It’s early April, which means that baseball season has just started. That means it’s time for another spate of articles lamenting the scarcity of American-born Black folks playing major league baseball. Which means that it’s time for me to once again ask, what’s the big deal? It would be different if this were evidence of some form of discrimination. It’s not. We know it’s not. It’s evidence of a preference of sports with more action. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Baseball is said to be a statisticians dream because essentially, it’s all about the numbers. Some people look at numbers like the ones mentioned in this article by George Curry, and get nervous. Looking at the numbers might make me nervous too, if I didn’t look at the text in between.
And even on teams that have African-Americans, they tend to be “stacked” in certain positions. They are underrepresented in certain so-called “thinking positions” - especially pitcher, catcher and third basemen. For example, only 3 percent of pitchers and almost no catchers are Black. By contrast, 28 percent of outfielders, a position that relies on speed and quick reactions, were African-Americans. That’s nearly three times the African-American representation in professional baseball.
Though few people expect Blacks to again make up 27 percent of major league baseball, many feel the numbers can increase if more emphasis is played on training, recruiting and nurturing Black players when they are young. After all, that has been the key to attracting so many Latino players south of the border.
While some bemoan the loss of African-American players, the combination of Black and Latino players reached 40.5 percent last season, just shy of the 42 percent high in 1997, the 50th anniversary of Robinson debut.
As major league baseball keeps striking out with Black players on the field, it is hitting home runs, in some cases, when it comes to Blacks and Latinos in the front office. This season, 20 percent of major league baseball’s managers are people of color: Willie Randolph (New York Mets), Ozzie Guillen (Chicago White Sox), Ron Washington (Texas Rangers), Lou Pinella (Chicago Cubs), Fredi Gonzalez (Florida Marlins) and Manny Acta (Washington Nationals).
Of the 30 major league teams, African-Americans were 16 percent of the coaches in 2006, up 1 percent over the previous year.
Whites still dominate as team physicians. From 2005 to 2006, White team physicians increased from 93 percent to nearly 95 percent. African-Americans decreased from 4 percent to 3 percent.
In radio and TV Broadcasting, Whites continued to hold 79 percent of all positions. African-Americans held 3 percent of those jobs last year, down 1 percent from 2005.
There are still no Blacks serving as CEO/President of any major league team. Except for one Latino, all team owners are White.
Baseball is called America’s pastime. It is past time for major league baseball to do a better job of developing tomorrow’s Willie Mays, Hank Aarons and Frank Robinsons.
A couple things. First of all, I don’t think it’s really accurate to differentiate between American-born Black folks at the beginning of the article, and then lump Blacks and Latinos together later on, when it’s more convenient. I understand that the point is to include all “minorities,” but if you start out making a distinction, that distinction should be made throughout, otherwise the numbers are skewed.
Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, I disagree with the idea that it’s major league baseball’s job to develop the next crop of great Black baseball players, any more than it’s the NFL or the NBA’s responsibility to develop the next Jim Brown or Magic Johnson. The truth is, great athletes are going to develop and play in the sport of their choice. Now, I do think that it may be in Major League Baseball’s best interest to find and develop more talent, but if the people want to play football or basketball, then it’s going to require something more than a historical argument about how great some of us were at playing it.
Now to be honest, like I said before, if I had a son who was bound and determined to be an athlete in one of the four major sports, baseball, basketball, football, or hockey (really?), I’d steer him towards baseball. The money’s guaranteed and there’s less chance of a life-interrupting injury. While I wouldn’t necessarily mind my son being the next Earl Campbell when he’s young, I’d rather him be the next Reggie Jackson when he’s old.
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