As repugnantly racist as Donald Sterling’s language is on the recording heard ‘round the world, the disgraced and banished owner of the Los Angeles Clippers cannot claim the title of most reviled owner in professional American sports.

Sterling’s comments to his girlfriend in a conversation that she recorded don’t approach the vile remarks uttered by his predecessor in boorish behavior by the owner of a major professional sports team. It’s not just what Sterling said compared with the best of Marge Schott but the circumstances in which he said it.

This in no way is meant to excuse Sterling for his racist remarks, but he expressed his views privately. Schott, the one-time managing partner of the Cincinnati Reds, tossed off her comments wherever she happened to be, whatever the circumstances.

Note: This column contains language I said would not appear on this web site. Its use is necessary to portray accurately the character of the main subject.

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Find the player who doesn’t belong in this group but also figure out why he doesn’t belong:

Ryan Braun, Andrew McCutchen, Matt Wieters, Will Myers, Stephen Strasburg, Giancarlo Stanton, Kris Medlen, Drew Storen, Gordon Beckham, Gerrit Cole, Yasiel Puig, George Springer, Jose Tabata, Pedro Alvarez, Carlos Santana, Mike Moustakas, Anthony Rizzo, Michael Wacha.

Most of those players are among the best young hitters and pitchers in the major leagues today. If on that basis you spotted Springer and said he has yet to establish himself as one of those hitters, you are right but wrong.

That is, that’s not the reason Springer doesn’t belong in that group. All of the other players in that group were …

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In response to last week’s column about pitchers continuing to hurt their arms despite baseball people continuing to take precautions to prevent the injuries, a veteran member of the sports magazine business wrote:

“Great piece today. It’s about time somebody wrote it. Of course no baseball beat reporter would or could write it. They’re too busy asking inane questions like ‘How big was this win today?’ or ‘How excited are you?’ Sometimes they don’t even ask questions. ‘Talk about the game today.’ Not many of them think critically or challenge the banalities thrown at them. Sometimes it seems the beat reporter is an extension of the club’s P.R. department. That could be a future topic: the abysmal state of sports beat reporting and the awarding of so many dubious press credentials.”

Sadly I have to agree with the letter writer, but I would …

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