Percentage of Black Players Goes Down Again

[Warning Track Power]

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Interesting article. The Brewers currently have 4 players (Prince Fielder, Rickie Weeks, Nyjer Morgan, Latroy Hawkins) or 16.7% of the roster that are black. That is almost double the average of 8.5% of players in MLB that are black.

[COBrewerfan]

Well there are just less than 10% white americans in the NBA with another 19% of white international players. It is because there are less great white players. Basketball is a priority for alot of the inner city black kids and baseball is just not played. Hence, you have more black players in the NBA and less in MLB. This is just another example of racial equality stepping over the line and coming into something they shouldn't. Talent is what drives this, not any racial issue.

[yfinn6]

It's easier for kids in the inner city to play basketball than it is to play baseball. Basketball can be played anywhere, and even if you can't get guys together to play a game you can always shoot around and work on your game.

 

It's pretty hard (basically impossible) to play baseball with only one person, unless you want to go to a batting cage all day.

[jerichoholicninja]

Who really cares? Good players are good players and race, ethnicity, color, etc. should be irrelevant.

[dadofandrew]

Too bad people still bring up race. Means nothing.

[Oldcity]

Isn't the point that baseball isn't reaching inner city kids as much as other sports? That sure seems like an issue to me.

[jerichoholicninja]

Kids are playing less baseball everywhere. It's just not that popular anymore.

[razzzorsharp]

From an interview with Mike Wallace and Morgan Freeman...

 

 

Freeman: Alright. I don't either. I don't want a Black History Month. Black history is American history.

 

Wallace: How are we going to get rid of racism...?

 

Freeman: Stop talking about it. I'm going to stop calling you a white man. And I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man. I know you as Mike Wallace. You know me as Morgan Freeman.

 

 

I agree with him. There is no real difference between people of different colors so why talk about it. We don't talk about the number of redheads or blueyed players. Why bring up something that means nothing. Now you may notice I said colors and not cultures. I do think they need to spread baseball to those of the inner city culture just as a means of giving them a supportive pasttime.

[Ennder]

Kids are playing less baseball everywhere. It's just not that popular anymore.

This really isn't true, every baseball league my kids have been a part of has grown every year.

[Oxy]

From an interview with Mike Wallace and Morgan Freeman...

 

 

Freeman: Alright. I don't either. I don't want a Black History Month. Black history is American history.

 

Wallace: How are we going to get rid of racism...?

 

Freeman: Stop talking about it. I'm going to stop calling you a white man. And I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man. I know you as Mike Wallace. You know me as Morgan Freeman.

 

 

I agree with him. There is no real difference between people of different colors so why talk about it. We don't talk about the number of redheads or blueyed players. Why bring up something that means nothing. Now you may notice I said colors and not cultures. I do think they need to spread baseball to those of the inner city culture just as a means of giving them a supportive pasttime.

It's all great in theory. The US has been a melting pot for cultures for hundreds and hundreds of years. 100 years ago in New York there were Irish neighborhoods and Italian neighborhoods and Polish neighborhoods and Jewish neighborhoods etc etc etc. Each had different stereotypes. Over the generations, generally the cultures become more or less unified as "American." Most ethnic groups shared something in common: they immigrated here, wanted to be here, and wanted to be Americans. The history of the African-Americans is a bit more complicated, to say the least. History is important in order to learn from the successes and mistakes of our ancestors (all of them), so I don't think that ignoring it and not talking about it is the best way to go about things.

[jerichoholicninja]

Kids are playing less baseball everywhere. It's just not that popular anymore.

This really isn't true, every baseball league my kids have been a part of has grown every year.

In my area that is far from true. I coach high school baseball and it's like pulling teeth trying to get kids to play in the summer. I would guess that only 50% of the kids that go out are doing it because they want to play baseball - they just prefer it over track. And of those guys only a handful really love to play.

[Invader3K]

MLB has been trying to reach out to inner city youths (ie. black kids) for quite a while. Not sure how effective their programs are, but at least it's something.

 

The thing is you want to get these young athletes interested at a young age, or they naturally gravitate to basketball and football.