African-Americans In Baseball Today
Via Dave Zirin in his feature entitled “Canary in the Mine Shaft” –
Last Tuesday night, there were as many African-American presidents at the All-Star Game as players in the starting lineups.
Only the fourteen-year veteran Derek Jeter represented people of African descent. (Jeter, like Obama, is of mixed heritage.) Eighteen percent of the players in the All-Star Game were African-American, including game MVP Carl Crawford, but none were voted in by the fans to open the contest.
Jeter is also the only African-American player in the starting lineups of the two marquee teams in Major League Baseball, the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox in particular have become so bleached in recent years, you wonder if Red Sox Nation has a Whites Only sign on the front door. This is particularly notable when we consider that the Red Sox were the last team to integrate in Major League Baseball.
It sends a message throughout the land that America’s Pastime has reinstituted a de facto color line.
In the mid-1970s, African-Americans made up 27 percent of the players in the league. Today it stands at just over 8 percent. In the NCAA only 6 percent of the nearly 9,800 Division I baseball players are of African descent.
Major League Baseball has attempted to address the access question through a program it runs called RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities), but it has been like shoveling sand in the ocean. The greater problem is that our cities have become shells of their former selves.
Each city is also the site of a sparkling new baseball stadium, paid for in part or in full on the taxpayer dime. The irony has become a collective noose: fewer African-Americans play baseball because our cities are being strangled; our children are being fast-tracked to a ravenous prison industry; and no one has the time, money or will to organize a good old-fashioned game of baseball.
For African-Americans the national pastime is now past its time. The canary in the mine shift has fluttered to the ground. It would behoove us to notice.
This is interesting. When I was watching the All-Star game on Tuesday, I had a different reaction to this issue.
I saw Derek Jeter, Edwin Jackson, Chone Figgins, Carl Crawford, Curtis Granderson, Adam Jones, Prince Fielder, Ryan Howard, Orlando Hudson, and Justin Upton announced during the pre-game and had no reaction, either way, about it.
But, later, Jeter, Crawford, Granderson, Jones, Fielder, Howard, Hudson and Upton were all involved during key moments in the game. And, around the 9th inning, I thought to myself “We hear that there’s less and less African-Americans playing major league baseball, but, tonight, what would this All-Star Game be without all the African-Americans who were in it?”
In any event, as a fan, I want to see more great players in big league baseball. And, to be candid, I really don’t care what race they are – albeit, African-American, Asian, American Indian, White or whatever. But, again, it is interesting that Zirin and I watched the same game and came away with different thoughts with respect to African-Americans playing in the major leagues.
What’s your thoughts on this?
These columns pop up every so often, I don’t pay too much mind to them. I wish Zirin did his homework on this, and I’m not too crazy about that “whites only” comment about the Red Sox.
I pay no attention to these types of stories. At this point, I see no evidence of MLB demonstrating bias against any player of any racial or ethnic background and I don’t see why this topic continues to come up. MLB has shown that those that can play will be given the chance to do so, and at very competitive wages.
Furthermore, I have no idea what the “Whites Only” reference means since Boston has a group of Latin American players (Papi, Lugo, Delcarmen, Ramon Ramirez) and three guys from Japan (Dice-K, Saito, Okajima). 28% of their roster is non-white. I don’t know how that compares to the rest of the ballclubs in the big leagues but it doesn’t sound like a “Whites Only” environment to me.
And, to be candid, I really don’t care what race they are – albeit, African-American, Asian, American Indian, White or whatever.
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thats my thoughts exactly.
Perhaps if we looked at the percentage of African Americans among elite athletes overall we would see a different picture. If we aggregated figures for baseball, football and basketball, would the overview give us a more balanced perspective? I expect that which sports are relevant to a particular population is partly a function of cultural preference, and that members of each population will play more, practice more, and excel more in the sports that they find most relevant. As fans we might like to see a more even ethnic distribution across sports but the fact that it does not happen is not necessarily sinister.
FWIW, I will add – albeit ducking afterwards – that it does seem as if the ratio of “media attacks on baseball for their lack of African-American players” to “media attacks on the NBA for their lack of White players” doesn’t exactly seem close to a 1:1 mark, does it? I have to wonder if Bud Selig wishes he could say that when the media comes after him on this matter?
Also, just for the record, you could say that the NHL is in the same boat with MLB here – but, there, no one seems to care about it.
For some reason, it seems OK to come after baseball on this – but not so much the other sports. Perhaps that’s the price of being the National Pastime?
I saw what you saw Steve:
I saw Derek Jeter, Edwin Jackson, Chone Figgins, Carl Crawford, Curtis Granderson, Adam Jones, Prince Fielder, Ryan Howard, Orlando Hudson, and Justin Upton….
(…and CC wasn’t even on the team, but yeah this writer should DEFINITELY have mentioned CC on the Yankees, but apparently he only looked at the starting lineup and not pitchers.)
Still that’s 10 players out of a total of 66…but the thing is that the Latin and Asian players now take up spots in the majors that used to go to African-Americans and Whites. I bet if you looked at the number of White players in the majors, that number would be down too compared to previous years going back to the 70′s probably.
I thought African-Americans were very well represented in the All-Star Game. Prince Fielder won the HR derby and Crawford won the MVP.
Some other players who could of been All-Stars or have been in the past: Matt Kemp, Jimmy Rollins, Vernon Wells, Jermaine Dye, Dernard Span, Marlon Byrd, Ken Griffey, Scott Hairston, Garrett Anderson, Gary Sheffield, Rickie Weeks, Mike Cameron, Derrek Lee, Milton Bradley, Latroy Hawkins, Michael Bourn, Brandon Phillips, Russell Martin, James Loney, Randy Winn
Teams like the Rays are a hotbed for young African-American talent. They have Crawford, Upton, & Price this year and they had Jackson last season, but they also drafted Delmon Young and also have Desmond Jennings and Tim Beckham in the minors.
If you look in the minors there are a ton of African-American prospects like Jason Heyward (ATL), Ben Revere (MIN), Mike Stanton (FLA), Kyle Blanks (SD), Austin Jackson, Cameron Maybin (FLA), Daryl Jones (STL), Dominic Brown (PHI), Greg Halman (SEA), Michael Taylor (PHI), etc..
Andrew McCutchen (PIT) and Dexter Fowler(COL) just came up this year as well….a process like RBI takes time to work but there seems to be a GREAT number of YOUNG high end talent African-American players….I think the number of African-American players in MLB is going to increase very soon.
The good thing here is that this isn’t like the NBA where all the American born White players who are in NBA are mostly fringe players who aren’t all that good. In baseball, African-Americans who are in the majors are usually star players, which is good because they are highly visable to kids and that may get them more interested in playing baseball.
The one thing I love about baseball is that all different nationalities, races, and cultures play the game and it’s the only MAJOR sport like that. It’s great to watch all the different players and their personalities
Exactly, cr1. African-American Athletes choose to play basketball and football. the NBA has become increasingly non-white as MLB has moved in the opposite direction. It is a cultural decision, and one that MLB might want to change, but not one that reflects on some broader social issues.
Great post antone!
yagottagotomo1 wrote:
It’s easier to pick up a ball and shoot on your own than get 9+ kids together to play some baseball if nobody is around to organize it. If they had leagues like RBI then they will play….I guarantee it.
I don’t think it’s a cultural decision to play basketball…it’s more like they don’t have any other choice. If the leagues were around from a young age then they would be more inclined to take a liking to it…
Steve Lombardi wrote:
i think noone cares about the NHL, in general
antone wrote:
the problem is, not many kids these days know about stickball, stoopball or anything of the like. You don’t need many people for that. It’s actually cheaper to find a broomhandle and a tennis ball then to get a basketball
Corey wrote:
What century are you living in? There’s still no leagues for them to keep their interest or for that matter in some cases no fields for them to play on and there are plenty of basketball courts around.
You still need someone to play with or at least a glove and some kind of ball, so you can throw the ball off the stairs and run to the other side and catch it. With basketball you can shoot/practice on your own, it’s just so much easier. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but I think it’s harder to become good at it because you really need other people to be around to get better.
Oh, sandlots, now, there’s a real issue today…
http://waswatching.com/2008/07/20/so-long-sandlots/
Steve Lombardi wrote:
I could be wrong, but I doubt the NHL has the history that MLB has WRT race.
Good point, Raf. History does affect perception.
Raf wrote:
antone wrote:
this 1, and i’d bet i’m younger than you. I played stickball growing up, it’s quite cheap, you don’t need a league, just a few guys (at least 2 others) and your set. I didn’t need leagues to keep my interest, why does anyone else? You don’t need a glove, and tennis balls are cheap as all hell.
and, you don’t need a sandlot for stickball. You can play in the street, or as I did against the wall of my school.
FWIW, there’s a stickball league in the Bronx
http://www.coolinyourcode.com/ny-emperors/
Corey wrote:
That may be true but I just don’t think playing stickball is going to equal playing baseball in high school and then getting drafted and going to college…there needs to be some structure in place so that kids can go on to play in highschool after getting developed in a league setting.
Another thing is…I bet a lot of baseball programs get cut when the schools/cities are trying to meet their budget.
FYI: We missed Torii Hunter since he was injured, so that makes it 11 African-American All-Stars.
Also, seems like he should have wrote this last season since there were only 4 on the team: Derek Jeter, Milton Bradley, Grady Sizemore, & Russell Martin and three of them were bi-racial.
Antone had it right in post 6 above.
I’d bet anything that the growth in Latino players far exceeds the decline in African-American players. The growth in Asian players is also significant in the last 20 years.
If baseball recruits more African American players and fewer Latinos, is that discriminatory or anti-discriminatory?
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From the article:
Maybe that’s the case in most cities, but from where I sit, New York City is a far better place to live in than it was in from 1970-1990, or so. Well, maybe this modern fiscal crisis brought on by the national recession will bring it back down some. We’ll see.
I hate thinking about things like that; drives me nuts.
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Look, you can do all the recruiting you want, but if African American kids would rather play and work harder at football and basketball, there’s not much anyone can do about it.