There has been some recent articles printed that continue to expose the fact that blacks just don't play baseball as much as Latins and whites do.
One article, written by Aaron Beard on 6-16-23, on Associated Press
( https://apnews.com/article/baseball-diversity-study-black-players-5d0d1766536f1385ee673c68be55d89a )
said:
...the study found Black players represented just 6.2% of players on opening day rosters, down from last year’s previous record low of 7.2%. Both figures are the lowest recorded in the study since it began in 1991, when 18% of MLB players were Black
Another, written by Michael S.Jackson, on 2-22-23, for Gettys Image
according to a report released by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES), Major League Baseball has a smaller percentage of Black players now than it has had in any year since TIDES began assessing the demographics. American Black players made up 18 percent of all MLB rosters in 1991; on opening day in 2022, they composed a paltry-ass 7.2 percent. (And 28.5 percent were Hispanic or Latino.) The situation is so flagrant that last year, for the first time since 1950—mind you, just three years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier—there was not a single American-born Black player on the roster of either team in the World Series.
Back in the day, I wrote sports for three local newspapers owned by Morris Publishing.
I had two assignments.
One, cover and write a full weekly page on the Mets Class A affiliate, the Savannah Sand Gnats.
The other was to cover and write a weekly page on the local schools in Jasper County, SC (neighborhood county to Savannah and where I live) that included the cities of Hardeeville and Ridgeland.
Those schools were 90+% minority students, dominated by black kids born to local families that dated back to the slave ships that brought their ancestors to this country.
It took into my second year for the "Moms" to trust me and literally let me into their lives.
I featured five students each week with highlights and photos. My goal was to write one great positive blurb per player that they would all be proud to frame.
One day, I was talking to the high school boys baseball team coach about the difficulty of fielding a team. Seems black kids wanted to play basketball and football far ahead of baseball and the coach could only get the shorter, weaker, and less talented athletes to come out. Add to this pressure from the school not to play overlapping sports and family needs at home and, well...
Anyway, we were discussing the star of the basketball team and if he would get a scholarship to college. The coach laughed and said if he did he wouldn't last through the first set of classes.
I asked why and he told me to go ask him to write his name.
I found this a particularly strange statement in 2005 but I ran into the stud power forward at their next practice and I told him I was writing an article on local families and I needed him to write down his Mom's, Dad's, and his full name.
He froze and stared at me.
He couldn't.
Because he didn't know how to write it.
Yes, this was 2005, not 1935.
I looked a little deeper into this and found many of the top athletes simply weren't taught much. In fact, their math level was around third grade. They were passed each year to achieve one goal. Play sports.
I knew of four football players that received partial or full scholorships and all either dropped out or flunked out after one semester.
I'm not making this shit up.
I remember reading an article years ago about an all-pro lineman for the then Washington Redskins. He stated that he was functionally illiterate although He had graduated from a prestigious college. When asked how that could be true, he stated it was because of what he was, not who he was. Always will remember that.
ReplyDeleteI have recently relocated to Jasper County. Before that I was employed in the school systems in upstate NY. Somehow they found that out and asked me to become involved and maybe seek a school board seat. At this age, I don't think I have the energy anymore.
We read and write about the injustice being committed to the young players in the Caribbean. We are committing injustices to our youth right outside our back doors.
Had a discussion with a parent of a student who went on to med school. He was complaining about the costs of educating students with special needs and learning disabilities. I did some homework and approached this parent. I shocked him when I told him I finally agreed with him. I told him we should find a way to stop spending money on all high cost students. I told him that his son was one of the District's most expensive students and I was was going to recommend that the district save money by eliminating his son's special advance placement classes. That went over quite well as you can imagine.
Mack, you have hit a deep core inside my with this spin. I will probably be thinking about this all day.
Thank you
DeleteWhere.in Jaspar County?
Unreal. It is.a national shame when kids of any color are not taught basic skills to the point where they learn them.
ReplyDeleteThere was information that I can’t exactly remember about Baltimore, where none of the (black) kids in the high school system were reading or doing math grade level.
I don’t know how you fix that, short of a Marshall plan for students. But I won’t go further down that road.
I will say that coincidentally yesterday, while I was waiting for my wife to go out, I saw some Facebook clip with Bo Jackson in it. It made me think, before reading this article , how different baseball on the major league would be the level of education for a black students was on a par performance, wise with other students.
Bo Jackson, without the hip injury, might not become the best player in the game at his time. He was just so strong, so fast, and so agile. The video showed him hitting two shots that were just gargantuan.
I also saw once when Don Mattingly drilled a line drive in Yankee Stadium deep into the gap in left center. Bo Jackson, looked like a rhinoceros charging through the outfield, and he just out simply at the ball and made the catch. That was a jaw dropper. Nobody but nobody else would’ve caught that ball. Anyway, if blacks in school learned on a par with their white counterparts, a lot of the baseball players we see now we would not see. Because you could easily have 10 more black players per major league, team, maybe more, and the result would be , talent wise, that baseball would be an extremely high level.
I also saw some video yesterday of what I believe was too high school age star teams playing basketball in some kind of an All-Star game. The narrator said they were 51 dunk star in the game, and these guys are so athletic. It was unreal. I think having the extreme ability to jump run and have funplaying basketball like that it’s like a narcotic. Playing basketball like that it’s like a narcotic. It made me wonder, what if they took those extreme athletic skills and went for baseball.
None of them probably want to think about the fact that they could have a long 3 to 5 year stroll through the minor leagues to play MLB baseball a sport which many are disinterested in, which they don’t care about.
Perhaps no one is explaining to them that someone like Juan Soto could end up making $1 billion in his major league career, and perhaps it could be some of them too. It still might not make a difference. The passion just isn’t there as it is for basketball I believe.
It is sad.
This was just one story about the teachers
DeleteThere are many more about the parents, the living environment, and the athletic
When I wrote that playing basketball was a narcotic for them, to clarify, it is because while playing, they may dream of an NBA career. But only the very best of the best will make the NBA…IT IS A SMALL “club”. Meanwhile, many would have skills like 70 speed and 60/70 power, but never pick up a baseball.
ReplyDeleteMany who go into college football and may just miss out on the NFL talent-wise could have superior baseball physical skills.
Anyway, enough on that. Happy Sunday.
It is very hard to teach urban basketball in rural schools. Fundamentals barely exist yo kids the only want to run and gun for a highlight moment
DeleteMargaritaville
ReplyDeleteI live in Abbey Glen off 278 behind Palmetto Electric
DeleteI know exactly where that is!
ReplyDeleteThree miles down the road.
The parents are the first line of responsibility. They must teach their kids before school and give them a passion for learning. Unfortunately people like the one who couldn't write his name will become a parent who is incapable of teaching his child. It is a viscious cycle.
ReplyDeleteThe way of life in small southern urban rural counties is much different
Delete2005 in Jaspar County SC made one think that Conrack was one of the teachers.
I remember standing with one of the football coaches when the homecoming queen drove by during the pre game parade
She was one year out of high school, had three children in the car with her, all by three different boys, none of which she ever married.
The coach turned to me and said "welcome to Hardeeville ".
The soft racism of lowered expectations based on race is insidious and horrendously damaging.
ReplyDeleteIt is when it comes from non black or brown teachers
DeleteIt is not when it is within the family or their culture
Blacks played for peanuts from 1900 thru 1970. Now that the money is exponentially hire, the interest is exponentially lower.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if baseball ever thought of teaching baseball to youths in sub-Saharan Africa? How many potential major leaguers could be developed? Seems worth a pilot project.
This expense isn't needed.
DeleteThe bigger and stronger kids will always be pushed by both their friends and the coaches to play basketball and football first
Baseball is for smaller faster athletes
By 2050 it will predominantly played only by Latins
To Steven M - that player for Washington was Dexter Manley, who used to carry the Wall Street Journal (or some other paper) around with him so that people would think he was smart.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad to think that coaches were/are discouraging players from playing multiple sports. It's the best kind of cross training that there is.
Part of the problem with baseball on the local level is how expensive it is to play. Go to your local athletic store and see what the cost is for a bat, glove and spikes. Now try imagining a kid talk his parent into that money when they're trying just to put food on the table.
When my son was playing baseball, I'd take him and his friend to the local school and pitch to them. Inevitably, other kids would come by and ask if they could hit. I'd tell them they had to play in the field first and then they could hit. And most of them did, even with no glove.
My opinion is that kids would play if they had the chance. But it takes a lot to get started, from the open field, to the equipment to enough kids to play. And let's not pretend that today's youth are just going to try to get a baseball game started. I know that's going to come across as a dig on the kids and I really don't mean it that way. But it takes a lot to get a baseball game started and kids are just used to others doing that for them.
The baseball I see in my area is much more geared towards putting together All-Star teams for travel ball. And I don't want to put that down. But we need the game to be available to everyone, all skill levels and all financial levels.
I agree Brian but sadly I think those days are gone
DeleteI was a motherless poor kid
After school?
I had to work
I was a very good baseball football and basketball player... in the parks... and never could play in school due to work schedule.
DeleteOne more thing
Add to this other problems poor persons of color kids have and... well...