Los Angeles Dodgers

They don't make 'em like this no more

Published Jun. 11, 2015 3:00 p.m. ET

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Wednesday night while exploring Dodger Stadium, I snapped this ancient poster -- it's older than me! -- and (of course) posted on Twitter:

I didn't look closely at the poster before posting, just thought the art was interesting, not to mention the notion that blowing up a baseball team -- with a thermonuclear weapon, maybe -- was considered good humor, 52 years ago.

But a few of you actually looked closely at the art...

Murder Maris

Nope, that one wouldn't fly today. Not at all. But that's nothing compared to...

Hang Howard

Oh man.

Was it a coincidence that the artist chose the verb "hang" for the Yankees' only black regular? Yeah, it probably was! All the verbs refer to killing or maiming a Yankee, and they're all alliterative, and my 10-second mind-search doesn't come up with anything else that begins with the letter h. Well, except hurt. That would have been better.

If this somehow happened today, though? Someone would get fired. Multiple someones. And oh, the public shaming. There would be no limit to the public shaming.

Which isn't a good thing, in itself. But it's a natural outcome of a more sensitive society, which is usually a good thing. The person who created this poster probably had little evil in his heart, and we might assume the same about the Dodger employees who approved it. We might also say the same about all the people over the years who have propagated Chief Wahoo.

Our standards do change, and we do become more sensitive, slightly better people as we move along. But becoming more sensitive should include being more tolerant of those who came before us, and maybe weren't as bloody smart as us.

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