For the past few months I have been reading article after article that once again discusses the disparity (there’s that word again) of African-Americans that play baseball on the professional level. All the articles that I read made it seem as though once again “the system” has found another way to keep us out of the game (pardon the pun). This article covers those “missing points”.
(excerpted)
Baseball has thrived on a system that begins with Little League, but black children today overwhelmingly choose basketballs and footballs over bats and gloves. Those connected with baseball cite several reasons for the sport’s decline in popularity with today’s young blacks: They find baseball boring; video games and rap music help them pass the time; and most importantly, fewer adults in their neighborhoods are available to teach them the game.
The result: Blacks made up 9 percent of the players in the major leagues this year, down from a peak of 27 percent in 1975, according to Richard Lapchick, who tracks minorities in sports.
It’s another sign of the break between the post-civil-rights generation and their elders, who experienced legal segregation in the Negro Leagues until Jackie Robinson integrated Major League Baseball in 1947.
…In baseball’s heyday in the 1960s, a majority of black fathers were in the home, Cooney said. “In 2000, it’s the total opposite. Baseball is a father-son game. In the suburbs, fathers organize the leagues. In the city, there are not a lot of fathers to do that.” (more…)
This is way out of the scope of what MLB commissioner “Bud” Selig could ever do. Baseball just ain’t swinging with us like it used to.
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August 25th, 2005 at 8:10 am
As someone in the athletic industry, this is something I have often thought about: sports and culture are interrelated, people play team sports for camaraderie, and most people want that camaraderie to be with people of their own culture, especially those who feel a strong connection to their cultural community. When I saw a baseball game in the Dominican Republic for the first time, I felt a connection to the game I had never felt before. It wasn’t because a bunch of guys were on a field throwing a ball around, but the SOUL that filled the stadium spoke to me and I felt connected. I don’t feel that soul when I watch football or basketball, but then again there aren’t a whole lot of people that look like me that play those sports. I am connected to baseball through the Latino community, not the other way around…
August 25th, 2005 at 10:18 am
Tremenda,
What you mention in your comment is something that I failed to mention in this piece.
As far as I am concerned, America does not have a national sport.
When I watch European soccer games, the crowd really gets into it. To them, soccer is blended with national pride. Here in America, I think one of the reasons this “soul” is missing is because we play against ourselves in most sport venues. True, you will find die hard fans in many northeastern cities, but not on the level that you see internationally. The only time I have seen such “pride” is during the olympics. The other reason of course is like you mention, baseball was intertwinded in the culture. It was something that we did.
I personally think that MONEY (I’m talking about the ungodly amounts athletes are paid today) has taken away the soul of the game you mention.
August 25th, 2005 at 11:16 am
Duane,
Baseball players in the Dominican Republic are paid the same as any other job. They go to work, live with their families and are normal citizens. In the sports industry in the U.S. (my company has attributed a great deal to this) we deify athletes and pay them more than teachers, doctors, even the president! Makes you stop and think about where our goals are, because we make the CHOICE to spend that money on those people.
August 25th, 2005 at 11:50 am
Sorry, I meant to say “makes you wonder where our VALUES are”…
August 25th, 2005 at 1:07 pm
” In the suburbs, fathers organize the leagues. In the city, there are not a lot of fathers to do that”
****
So all Blacks live in the cities?!”
What about the Black fathers that live in the suburbs?
John L.
August 25th, 2005 at 1:31 pm
I think you know the answer to your first question.
As for your second question, you will see blacks coaching little league baseball teams mostly in suburban areas where the population tends to be largely black, but not on the level that you will see whites doing it in theirs. Like the article suggests, many of us are just not that interested in the sport. Many people would want to make this into some sort of conspiracy. The interest is just not there as it once was 30 + years ago.
August 26th, 2005 at 9:55 am
Why would anyone want to make it into “some type of conspiracy?”
However, I had a white sociology prof a couple of years ago who gave our class a research article demonstrating that “in baseball Black players are most likely to be placed in the outfield…because out there they don’t have as many decisions to make as infielders.”
John L.