The thing is, it's baseball - and for a lot of "baseball men," it isn't enough to be good. You have to be good in the "right way," which means that anybody who doesn't conform gets targeted.
It really doesn't matter what form the non-conformance takes. Are you a flake (e.g., Herrera,Jay Johnstone, etc.)? You'll be targeted for criticism. Are you too "intellectual," not the standard redneck good 'ol boy (e.g, Rolen)? You'll be targeted. Are you culturally different (e.g., urban black, hip-hop dude)? You'll be targeted. Make it look too easy (Schmidt, Abreu)? You, too, will be targeted, regardless of your actual effort.
It makes me wonder how many of the players who do the demonstrative, point-at-the-sky "God thanking," every time they hit a HR (or just a hit for some of them) really mean it, and how many are just going through the motions to conform to some "religious norm" in the clubhouses.
It may be that overt racism really doesn't play much part here - but reaction to any cultural norms other than the dominant ones (e.g., southern good 'ol boy redneck, and now also a certain Latino culture) tends to be negative.
For better or worse, reacting negatively to "the other" appears to be hard-wired into human brains. We can overcome it, but only if we want to, and are willing to make the intellectual effort to do so. That's clearly more than a lot of people are willing/able to do.
