It's not a secret that the number of black baseball players on Major League rosters has been in decline for years. USA Today is reporting that only 8% of players on 2012 Opening Day Rosters are African Americans despite the fact that baseball is perhaps as popular as it has been in a long time.
Baseball, at one time, was a big part of the African American community.
Nfl 2012
I am African American, and when I was a kid one of my dreams was to be a ballplayer, as well as a TV Weather guy and maybe a Pilot. It's what a lot of my neighborhood buddies wanted to be too. We spent almost every Summer morning playing baseball in the street using anything we could for bats, balls, and bases. We played from morning until the relentless Texas heat made us quit at which point we would rest until the evening when was time to go play real baseball in Little League or Pony League games at "the city park". I also was thrilled to hear my grandfather tell me stories of his baseball days back when entire communities of African Americans would turn out to watch the local semi pro team play after church on Sunday's.
A few years ago when my son was old enough to play Little League I was amazed to see that he was only only black kid on his team and I counted just 2 others in the entire league. We live in Dallas and there were plenty of young black kids eligible to play. But they were not. Yet, if you drive around playgrounds you see lots of black kids playing basketball or throwing footballs. This should send red flags to Major League Baseball.
The game of baseball has not changed since my grandfather played it. It's still 9 innings and three outs. Clearly what has changed is that the game stopped promoting itself while the NBA and NFL were very clever in letting everyone know who it's top stars were and why.
They also notice how, during Barry Bonds' controversial run at Hank Aaron's record, so much attention was paid to passing Ruth-to the point of referring to it as "Ruth's record." Frank Robinson noticed a few years ago.
"You always hear about 714, Babe Ruth, and then, 'Oh, Hank Aaron. He had the most, 755,' " he told The Baltimore Sun, angrily, before a 2008 game while he was managing Washington. "He's not the home run king in people's minds."
I'm not here with any answers to why there are not more blacks playing baseball. I do think that baseball has done an admirable job of hiring black managers and coaches. But it needs to find away to back into the grass roots level of the black community and help young kids realize what a great game it is to play whether it be in the streets with a pillow for bases or a Major League Stadium with 40,00 fans.
Baseball And The African American Decline
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