MLB hopes to invigorate African-American participation

[ralaw]

Major League Baseball, with a record low 7.7 % of African-Americans on opening-day rosters this season, announced the creation of a task force Wednesday in hopes of reversing the 20-year decline.

"As a social institution, Major League Baseball has an enormous social responsibility to provide equal opportunities for all people, both on and off the field," Commissioner Bud Selig said in a prepared statement. "I am proud of the work we have done thus far with the RBI program and the MLB Urban Youth Academies, but there is more that we must accomplish.

"We have seen a number of successful efforts with existing MLB task forces, and I believe we have selected the right people to effectively address the many factors associated with diversity in baseball."

The African-American percentage in baseball this season is the lowest since the Boston Red Sox became the final team to integrate its roster in 1959, according to a USA TODAY study, that includes major-league players on the opening-day disabled lists. It's a drop from 8.05% last season, a dramatic decline from 1995 when 19% of the rosters were African-American, and far from the peak of 27% in 1975

"Bud is right on the spot,'' veteran agent Scott Boras told USA TODAY Sports. "We've got to get these athletes back into baseball. But I don't think anything will change until Major League Baseball and the NCAA wakes up.

"Until we get this remedied, the Jackie Robinsons of the world aren't going to come to college to play baseball.''

Boras, who founded the Boras Baseball Classic to help gain exposure to high school players, recommends that MLB subsidizes college baseball scholarships. There are only 11.7 scholarships for college baseball programs, compared to 85 in football and 13 in basketball.

"If you're a high school athlete coming from a single-parent home that doesn't have the money to go to college,'' Boras said, "you're going to go to the sport where you can get a full scholarship. This needs to change if we want to get the best athletes in baseball.''

The dearth of African-Americans can be seen even at the high-school level, Hall of Fame executive Pat Gillick says.

"At the high-school level,'' Gillick told USA TODAY Sports, "the coaches get these kids in revenue-driven sports, and take them away from baseball. There's so much pressure on these kids to even play spring football.

"We need to get the African American players back in the game, which I think would make it not only a better game, but more exciting and entertaining for everyone.''

Tampa Bay Rays owner Stuart Sternberg owners will head the committee, with Detroit Tigers vice president Dave Dombrowski as the vice president.

The other committee members include: Hall of Famer Frank Robinson; MLB vice presidents Tom Brauswell, Wendy Lewis, Jonathan Mariner, Kim Ng and Darrell Miller; Tony Clark of the players association; Chicago White Sox vice president Kenny Williams; Roger Cador, coach of Southern University; Dennis Gilbert, special assistant to Chicago White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf; Larry Dolan of the Cleveland Indians; Derrick Hall, president of the Arizona Diamondbacks; former manager Jerry Manuel; Frank Marcos of the MLB scouting bureau; and Pat O'Conner, president of minor league baseball.

Hall of Fame second baseman Joe Morgan hopes the committee will help, but also believes that baseball needs to improve its representation in the front offices and the field. There are three African-American managers -- Dusty Baker of Cincinnati, Ron Washington of Texas and Bo Porter of Houston -- and Mike Hill of the Miami Marlins is the only African-American general manager.

"There has to be more involvement to attract athletes to come to baseball,'' Morgan told USA TODAY Sports. "I thought the NFL was worse, with the way they handled all of their jobs, and that none were given to African-American coaches. Truthfully, we can't go in that direction and hope this things turns around.''

Major League Baseball launched its RBI program (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) in 1989, and has built four urban academies with three others being developed. There have been more than 200 RBI participants drafted, including 14 in last year's draft. There were also seven African-American athletes selected in the first round of last year's June Draft, the most since 1992.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...d-selig-creates-diversity-task-force/2071305/

For the most part baseball is just not a sport that African Americans enjoy. I don't really know what MLB can do about this, because it really is a cultural thing. I don't think it is a big issue either. I don't think it is an economics issue either. I guess they could try and have some clinics and leagues, but I am not sure it would really work.

 

[NAHSTE]

:upuphey: will be the baseball version of the Fab Five and it will be cool again. Plus the Jay-Z/Robby Cano link up will get baseball in the streets.

 

[SuperKevin]

At the expense of coming across as racist, I feel a lot of African American youths shy away from baseball because unlike football and basketball, sheer athleticism will only get you so far. You can't dominate baseball simply by being a better athlete than your peers. Baseball requires a slightly stronger work ethic that today's youth, in all races, are lacking. Before the anti-baseball crowd comes in here and laughs, I understand that you have to work hard in other sports as well but it's a different kind of work that's required to excel in baseball.

 

[NAHSTE]

At the expense of coming across as racist, I feel a lot of African American youths shy away from baseball because unlike football and basketball, sheer athleticism will only get you so far. You can't dominate baseball simply by being a better athlete than your peers. Baseball requires a slightly stronger work ethic that today's youth, in all races, are lacking. Before the anti-baseball crowd comes in here and laughs, I understand that you have to work hard in other sports as well but it's a different kind of work that's required to excel in baseball.

I don't know if it's that baseball is harder than say, basketball, or that each is so time demanding and training intensive that you have to choose one or the other so soon now.

I think Kevin Durant probably spent as much time in a gym growing up as Bryce Harper spent in the cage. But with travel baseball, AAU basketball, ODP soccer, etc., kids growing up today are specializing in a sport from a really young age, and they just don't have time to do anything else.

You can pick up football in high school and hold your own if you have enough raw athleticism or size/strength, you see kids on National Signing Day all the time who didn't start playing until their junior years. But like you said, you couldn't just walk onto a baseball field and pick up a bat and expect to play at a decent level. You need constant exposure to the specific skills needed, and even then you're likely to fail.

 

[FedEx227]

Also, let's face it. The idea of spending 3-4 years riding buses before you can even get to the majors and 6-7 years before you can even THINK of getting paid a large amount of money isn't very appealing to under privileged youth.

 

[NAHSTE]

Also, let's face it. The idea of spending 3-4 years riding buses before you can even get to the majors and 6-7 years before you can even THINK of getting paid a large amount of money isn't very appealing to under privileged youth.

Right - chances are if you are not good enough to get drafted in the first 2-3 rounds out of high school, you will not be looking at enough money to entice you to turn down a free college education. (Record scratch) ... BUT WAIT ... there are only 11 scholarships for 30 roster slots for each college team. And only 9 players get to play at a time. However, if you are also good at football, there are plentiful opportunities. 85 schollies, 100 roster spots, and 22 starting jobs that need filling.

Easy to see why guys like Quincy Carter, Ricky Williams, Pat White, etc. eventually went with football. Humans are going to gravitate towards the easiest and most beneficial path.

 

[Slateman]

:upuphey: will be the baseball version of the Fab Five and it will be cool again. Plus the Jay-Z/Robby Cano link up will get baseball in the streets.

C'mon, man. Quit hogging all the black guys. We got one and a dark skinned guy from the Netherlands.

 

[SuperKevin]

C'mon, man. Quit hogging all the black guys. We got one and a dark skinned guy from the Netherlands.

You forgot our Dominican fake black guy

 

[NAHSTE]

Also this is getting more into the socioeconomics of it, but the RBI program has been trying to target baseball in the inner cities, which is great, but the Braves outfield is not the ideal group of poster boys for it given they all grew up playing in the suburban travel ball circuit.

Heyward's parents drove him 65 minutes or so each way to play for East Cobb, which is the 1% of Georgia prep baseball. And as is well documented the Uptons played ball growing up with guys like David Wright, Mark Reynolds and Ryan Zimmerman in northern VA - whatever the economic breakdown of that community and those guys' family was I have no idea, but it was clearly an environment that was conducive to incubating major league caliber baseball players.

Not everyone is going to have access to dedicated coaching and training like that, so it makes sense to set up more academies in urban areas and bring the resources to the athletes.

 

[JeremyHight]

At the expense of coming across as racist, I feel a lot of African American youths shy away from baseball because unlike football and basketball, sheer athleticism will only get you so far. You can't dominate baseball simply by being a better athlete than your peers. Baseball requires a slightly stronger work ethic that today's youth, in all races, are lacking. Before the anti-baseball crowd comes in here and laughs, I understand that you have to work hard in other sports as well but it's a different kind of work that's required to excel in baseball.

Bullshit, it has nothing to do with it being athleticism or mental, it has to do with simple economics and culture. If you are poor, are you going to try to get 18 of your friends together and play a game of baseball that requires everyone to have mitts, a bat, a ball, and a park you can actually use? Hell no, that is stupid to even consider. On the other hand, basketball can be played alone for practice, one on one, two on two, and etc and all you need is a single ball, nothing else.

As for culture, which is a better spectator sport? One where you can go flying past people, dunking over them, making behind the back passes, and being an utter showoff, or one where people stand around half the time and if you stare at one of your homeruns while at the plate too long, it is considered disrespectful? It is an easy choice to see which sport these kids gravitate to.

The only exception to this simple rule is football. Football is the king of sports right now, so kids are going to go to it despite the hardships of economics or culture. But still, the best black athletes still go to basketball by a wide margin because of the easier entrance into the pro level and it having the highest average salary of all pro sports leagues.

 

[NAHSTE]

As for culture, which is a better spectator sport? One where you can go flying past people, dunking over them, making behind the back passes, and being an utter showoff, or one where people stand around half the time and if you stare at one of your homeruns while at the plate too long, it is considered disrespectful?

Yeah this mentality needs to go away. I love watching the caribbean teams play, and found the hand-wringing over the exuberance displayed by the Domincan team during the WBC to be grating. The fact that they are having a blast playing baseball should be celebrated and shoved down the throat of every viewer. Baseball as a sport does tend to take itself a little too seriously - there's so much goofy shit that happens day to day that you have to lighten up and just enjoy it for the silly game that it is.

Japan loves baseball too, way more than we do now, and they also did not get the RESPECT THE GAME credo ported over. Their HR pimp jobs put HanRam to shame.

 

[Slateman]

Also this is getting more into the socioeconomics of it, but the RBI program has been trying to target baseball in the inner cities, which is great, but the Braves outfield would is not the ideal group of poster boys for it given they all grew up playing in the suburban travel ball circuit.

Heyward's parents drove him 65 minutes or so each way to play for East Cobb, which is the 1% of Georgia prep baseball. And as is well documented the Uptons played ball growing up with guys like David Wright, Mark Reynolds and Ryan Zimmerman in northern VA - whatever the economic breakdown of that community and those guys' family was I have no idea, but it was clearly an environment that was conducive to incubating major league caliber baseball players.

Not everyone is going to have access to dedicated coaching and training like that, so it makes sense to set up more academies in urban areas and bring the resources to the athletes.

Zimm played in VA Beach. He was born in NC and played in Norfolk/Newport News/VA Beach area. Which is, frankly, full of white trash and ghetto. Which explains why Vick was fighting dogs. But yea, they did play in the same AAU clubs. Or at least BJ did.

 

[ralaw]

Zimm played in VA Beach. He was born in NC and played in Norfolk/Newport News/VA Beach area. Which is, frankly, full of white trash and ghetto. Which explains why Vick was fighting dogs. But yea, they did play in the same AAU clubs. Or at least BJ did.

Lumping together Norfolk and Newport News with Va beach isn't a good idea. Zimmerman actually grew up in Sandbridge, which is in Va Beach and is nothing like Norfolk or Newport News (Vick). Norfolk and Newport News are more urban and black, whereas Sandbridge is a coastal community where a lot of wealthy people live. David Wright and the Upton Brothers grew up in Chesapeake. Mark Reynolds grew up in Va Beach. Va Beach and Chesapeake are the areas in Hampton Roads that are producing talented MLB players.

 

[Villain]

Black kids can't play baseball! They cant stop stealing the bases!

 

[ralaw]

At the expense of coming across as racist, I feel a lot of African American youths shy away from baseball because unlike football and basketball, sheer athleticism will only get you so far. You can't dominate baseball simply by being a better athlete than your peers. Baseball requires a slightly stronger work ethic that today's youth, in all races, are lacking. Before the anti-baseball crowd comes in here and laughs, I understand that you have to work hard in other sports as well but it's a different kind of work that's required to excel in baseball.

Kids really don’t think like that. If a kid knows he can make a lot of money playing a sport he enjoys he is going to pursue it. Black kids don’t go into football and basketball because they are athletic and feel that they don’t have to work hard. They go into football and basketball because those sports are huge within black culture. You just don’t’ see a lot of black kids playing baseball because they aren’t pushed in that direction and it has always been like this. It also doesn’t help that within black culture baseball, soccer, lacrosse, golf, tennis, etc are seen as “white sports”, and because of this kids sort of shy from them.

 

[Senser81]

Also, let's face it. The idea of spending 3-4 years riding buses before you can even get to the majors and 6-7 years before you can even THINK of getting paid a large amount of money isn't very appealing to under privileged youth.

Why not? Its not like they have to sit in the back of the bus.

 

[Senser81]

Right - chances are if you are not good enough to get drafted in the first 2-3 rounds out of high school, you will not be looking at enough money to entice you to turn down a free college education. (Record scratch) ... BUT WAIT ... there are only 11 scholarships for 30 roster slots for each college team. And only 9 players get to play at a time. However, if you are also good at football, there are plentiful opportunities. 85 schollies, 100 roster spots, and 22 starting jobs that need filling.

Easy to see why guys like Quincy Carter, Ricky Williams, Pat White, etc. eventually went with football. Humans are going to gravitate towards the easiest and most beneficial path.

I would have to disagree with this, as well as FedEx's "bus" point. I don't think guys are going into football because of the "free education", and I don't think they are going into football because that sport offers more collegiate scholarships. I would say that baseball offers the best opportunity to play right away, because there are jobs in the minors and you don't have to get accepted/go to college. You can turn pro after high school. I think its more of a cultural thing than a "path of least resistance" thing.

 

[FedEx227]

But the pay absolutely sucks compared to what they can make in football and basketball in shorter time. Sure, you can have a job in baseball right away but unless you're a top, early round pick with a huge signing bonus you're getting paid relative peanuts to play in Beloit in front of 400 people. You have to do that for a year or two, then you move up to Huntsville for a few years, THEN you can make the majors and play for 5-6 years and get paid a large amount provided you were any good and didn't flame out in Beloit.

College football you have to go to school and be an "amateur" for 3-4 years but you're getting a lot of perks, play in front of huge/good crowds, get your choice of co-eds and become a relative god on the campus if your team is any good. Yeah, you can flame out in college too but you've gotten to a higher point (i'd argue) than Class A baseball.

Basketball is similar to football but even more of a quick turnaround after 1 year.

They all have advantages and disadvatages but I think you have more of a chance of making BIG money quicker in football and basketball than you ever would in baseball.

 

[ralaw]

But the pay absolutely sucks compared to what they can make in football and basketball in shorter time. Sure, you can have a job in baseball right away but unless you're a top, early round pick with a huge signing bonus you're getting paid relative peanuts to play in Beloit in front of 400 people. You have to do that for a year or two, then you move up to Huntsville for a few years, THEN you can make the majors and play for 5-6 years and get paid a large amount provided you were any good and didn't flame out in Beloit.

College football you have to go to school and be an "amateur" for 3-4 years but you're getting a lot of perks, play in front of huge/good crowds, get your choice of co-eds and become a relative god on the campus if your team is any good. Yeah, you can flame out in college too but you've gotten to a higher point (i'd argue) than Class A baseball.

Basketball is similar to football but even more of a quick turnaround after 1 year.

They all have advantages and disadvatages but I think you have more of a chance of making BIG money quicker in football and basketball than you ever would in baseball.

What you say about earning power is true, but black kids aren't sitting down with their parents and financial advisers going over which sport offers the quickest route to financial prosperity. Black kids are playing the sports that dominate in their community, which is football and basketball. Within the black community there really aren't role models or coaches that know baseball well enough to teach it or make it appealing, which is another problem.

 

[FedEx227]

I'm not saying it's a conscious decision though. Of course they don't go through the 10-year plan and look at where they'll be with both sports but it's hard for me to believe it doesn't subconsciously come up in their minds when they are deciding which sport to focus most of their time on.

Let's take Derrick Rose for example. He's from one of the poorest and crime-ridden areas of Chicago. As a black kid from that area who's good at baseball and basketball (Rose's HS Simeon is great at both), why in the world would you ever choose baseball when one of your own currently brings in $16,402,500 yearly at age 24 in addition to an almost $500 million deal with Adidas? At age 24 in the baseball world you're lucky to even be in the majors let alone earning anywhere in the neighborhood of seven figures.

I totally agree that there aren't role models or coaches in the area to promote it but even then I don't see why a kid would chose baseball or basketball if they were skilled at both.