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Fading Legacy
Wed, 04/25/2007 - 20:59 | Sports
As Major League Baseball celebrated the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier, a USA Today article questioned whether Robinson's legacy was fading:
The percentage of African-Americans in the majors has dropped sharply during the last decade and now is the lowest it has been since the 1960s — 8.3%, or 72 players on opening-day rosters, according to a USA TODAY study that includes injured players. The percentage of blacks in key front-office, managing and coaching positions hasn't increased during the last decade. Even MLB's central office, with about 470 employees mostly in New York, has a smaller percentage of blacks than it did in 1997. However, two of MLB's five executive vice presidents — positions created since 1997 — are black.Why is the Black presence in baseball at such a low point?
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Comments
My thing is this how in the
My thing is this how in the world can black families let their high school son and daughter play any sport on ESPN or any other sport channel and not get paid. The school system is, and I bet you like most Americans some of these parents cannot even afford to pay their bills. Remember regardless if your son or daughter plays sports or not he has to be offered a high school education. You people better wise up and reap the benefits the school is getting from your sons' sweat. And if these sport channels say they say they cannot pay you or put money in a scholarship fund you for your son or daughter's services do what they would do, if you don't pay you don't pay your bill cut them off. Tell them your son or daughter will not play and then let's see how fair your school is to your kids.
Baseball isn't as attractive
Baseball isn't as attractive in the Black community as it once was. also there are very few places black kids can get a "pickup" game of baseball or Stickball, which is a lost art, due to over-development in urban areas, which has removed almost every green space or vacant lot available and filled the streets with massive amounts of traffic. Also, I think more black kids would rather be rappers than ball players these days, regardless of the sport.
I agree with the posting from
I agree with the posting from Pink, there is not much attention from the Black community given to baseball and the reason doesn't go as deep as the question. Sports for many of our young blacks kids is about money and fame. Michael Jordan gave them a face that looked like them so many of them sought after basketball, just as it is with football. They can have money, fame and a big fat ego with a basketball or football contract. There is probably a small percentage that love the sport and want this to be their profession. Like the women's professional team, it was all about the game, at least in the beginning when I watched. And I am sad to say that as a women I don't support them more.
I love baseball, and really took an interest as a sports fanactic when my daughter began playing little league baseball. As a Houstonian, and fan of the Houston Astros, I never noticed that there were no blacks on the team until someone pointed it out to me. As a loyal fan of all of Houston's sports team it doesn't matter to me what the make up of the team is.
I don't know what the big deal is about. I am speaking now purely on my limited knowledge, for the early black baseball players it was probably more about playing on a professional level than anything else, today however, in my own words, the price isn't right and the money and fame doesn't come quick enough so they stay away.
Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson and Mr. Primetime Sanders made baseball headline news, only because they were multi-sport professionals, dominating first in another sport with fame and it simply carried over, so these don't count. I said that to say this, I can name plenty of basketball and football best's black players, but I can't recall from my memory any from baseball, other than the great's of old.
All of this is a non-issue to me because I don't believe the organizations are deliberately keeping them out as it was in the day of Jackie Robinson . I don't want this kind of stuff to take away from the sport, this coming from a true minority in baseball-african american female fan. Go 'Stros!
I am a rarity. I am a Black
I am a rarity. I am a Black woman who loves baseball. I have followed the sport for sometime now, and I worked in professional baseball for almost a decade. In my personal observation and opinion, there are many factors that contribute to the declining number of Black professional baseball players. As mentioned in the previous responses, I believe that some of it is financial. It is hard to convince a star to wait for their rewards and hone their skills in the minors. I believe another factor is people like and identify with activities that they see people like themselves participating. It was only after Tiger started dominating golf that it became socially acceptable to in the Black community to take golf lessons and learn the sport. Venus did the same thing for tennis. Unfortunately now, it is almost like what came first, the chicken or the egg. Although baseball was the first major team sport to integrate, it never had the full support of African Americans. Just as Nascar (of all sports) is spending money to reach inner city youth, MLB should think about that approach as well.
When I read the USA Today
When I read the USA Today article, I was reminded of William Rhoden’s comments on the show, particularly regarding “The Jockey Syndrome.” The reasons for this may be broader that just sports related.
I think there are several
I think there are several reasons for the decline in the amount of African Americans in baseball. Major league baseball has invested more time and money into player development in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela than they have in the urban areas of America. College baseball does not offer scholarships to college-age African American. This eliminates opportunity for African American kids to develop their game. I also think the interest in the game in the black community has waned some because of the popularity of other sports and maybe video games.
I've always thought the
I've always thought the number of Blacks in MLB was low because it takes too long to get to the majors. I think in the last few years, with more and more kids going straight to the NBA, less and less young men want to go through the steps(minors) it takes to get to MLB. Also, it's seems to be a calm sport, no real high flying superstars or sensationalism.