Why are few African Americans playing professional baseball?

Yakno1

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Dave Dombrowski is busy enough reshaping the roster of Detroit Tigers, making several moves this off-season. As one of baseball’s most highly regarded executives, Double-D takes his job as caretaker of the Tigers’ roster very seriously, of course.

But as if he wasn’t busy enough, Dombrowski also has a part-time job. At the behest of the Commissioner’s Office, Dombrowski is chair of a special committee examining the role of African Americans in professional baseball. The committee was organized last April, just in time for baseball’s annual celebration of Jackie Robinson Day (April 15th). But as Tim Keown of ESPN.com reported, on that date, “everybody on the field dresses up in No. 42 jerseys while baseball’s cognoscenti stroke their collective chin and ponder why so few people on the field look like Jackie Robinson.”

According to research by Mark Armour and Dan Levitt, the percentage of African Americans on MLB rosters has rapidly diminished from 18.4% in 1984, to less than 8% thirty years later as we enter the 2014 season.

Baseball was integrated in 1947 when Robinson suited up for the Brooklyn Dodgers, and soon many other African Americans followed. At first, only the most talented African American players were signed, but by 1972, 16.1% of all the players in the big leagues were African American (identifying as black and born in the United States). That figure stayed steady between 16 and 19% for more than 25 years, as Armour and Levitt’s research shows. Then, starting in the mid-1990s, the number began to drop until baseball finds itself in the odd situation of today, when less than 60 African American players are on active rosters across Major League Baseball. The Tigers have four on their 40-man roster: Austin Jackson, Torii Hunter, Rajai Davis, and Daniel Fields.

What gives? That’s what Dombrowski and the special committee are looking to find out. But there are several theories.

Starting in the late 1980s, two trends have helped change the way rosters have been structured in the big leagues. First, relief pitchers are being used far more frequently, as the age of specialization has replaced the complete game. The Detroit Tigers will carry seven relief pitchers once again in 2014, giving them 12 pitchers on their staff. Why does that impact the number of African Americans in the majors? No one’s sure why this is, but fewer African Americans are pitchers. In fact, it’s always been that way. Historically, about 6% of all pitchers have been African American, and that number has dropped in the last 20 seasons. In fact, it might seem shocking, but in the entire history of the Tigers, only five African American pitchers have had a regular role with the team: Earl Wilson (1966-70), Les Cain (1968, 1970-72), Brian Williams (1996), Edwin Jackson (2009), and Dontrelle Willis (2008-10).* There are other factors as to why Detroit has had a poor showing of African American pitchers (institutional racism caused the team to be the second-to-last MLB club to integrate, more than a decade after Jackie Robinson played for the Dodgers).

The second significant factor in the decrease of African Americans in pro baseball is the explosion of talent being signed from outside the U.S. In 2013, 29% of the players on 25-man rosters were born in foreign countries. The bulk of these players are Latin American, and as Armour/Levitt’s research shows, Latin Americans are 10x as likely to be pitchers as are African Americans. Most African American players are outfielders, for whatever reason, and many big league teams are now carrying only four outfielders on their team. With shorter benches, MLB clubs are giving jobs to utility players like Don Kelly, players who can fill-in at several positions.

There are certainly other issues at play that have contributed to the decline in African American players in Major League Baseball. Cultural (African Americans are far more likely to come from single-parent homes or homes with fewer or no adult role models to foster participation in league sports) and economic issues (there are fewer free youth baseball leagues and many of the best leagues are pay-for-play), and some even suggest that baseball’s slow pace of play is unattractive to American youth, not to mention African American youth. Since 1984, the percentage of white Americans playing professional baseball has fallen from 70% to about 60%. Maybe the game has just become more appealing to the international crowd?

These questions are all on the plate for Dombrowski and the rest of MLB’s committee, which has yet to issue a report or make formal suggestions. One thing is for sure: if Jackie Robinson were alive today, he’d be proud of the progress that African American athletes have made, but he’d also be concerned about the decreasing number of black Americans on big league rosters.

http://blog.detroitathletic.com/201...playing-baseball-tigers-pitchers-black-stars/
 

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One name Michael Jordan. He changed the way Black folks and the world at large sees being an athlete. An since he was basketball player and not a baseball player that where the influence has been for the last 25 years. The MLB has always be a little hostel toward the Black American players. It also cheaper to farmer players from 3rd world nations like the DR.


One mistake Black folk made was not supporting the Negro leagues.
 

Slystallion

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to be honest from a money perspective if you had a choice between NFL and MLB and you would be a star in both the MLB is less taxing on your body and you can have a longer career with guaranteed mega contracts available...in the NFL if you get injured or don't perform as well as your paid you can get cut and the number on your contract doesn't mean squat

To me if you had the opportunity for both its a no brainer unless you just are that much more passionate about football which at this stage most younger people are but from a long term perspective your more likely to make more money for a longer period of time playing baseball
 

NYC Rebel

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the growth of the nba and nfl

case closed
Way too simple.

It was the economics of baseball opting to go overseas rather than keep their relationships with black baseball leagues by the late 70s.

The same can be said for Puerto Ricans and baseball.

Baseball left us, so we followed suit.
 

Box Cutta

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to be honest from a money perspective if you had a choice between NFL and MLB and you would be a star in both the MLB is less taxing on your body and you can have a longer career with guaranteed mega contracts available...in the NFL if you get injured or don't perform as well as your paid you can get cut and the number on your contract doesn't mean squat

To me if you had the opportunity for both its a no brainer unless you just are that much more passionate about football which at this stage most younger people are but from a long term perspective your more likely to make more money for a longer period of time playing baseball
I'm willing to bet that the MLB wouldn't have guaranteed contracts if blacks dominated the sport the way we do NFL/NBA.

Believe me, they would make *some* argument to fukk them over....and niccas would be dumb enough to get fukked over.

Regardless, fukk baseball. Boring ass sport.
 

duncanthetall

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to be honest from a money perspective if you had a choice between NFL and MLB and you would be a star in both the MLB is less taxing on your body and you can have a longer career with guaranteed mega contracts available...in the NFL if you get injured or don't perform as well as your paid you can get cut and the number on your contract doesn't mean squat

To me if you had the opportunity for both its a no brainer unless you just are that much more passionate about football which at this stage most younger people are but from a long term perspective your more likely to make more money for a longer period of time playing baseball
Word. Dude from ND a couple years back, Jeff Samarjsomething, did that. Sure he's made at least double what he would have made in football
 

god shamgod

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Word. Dude from ND a couple years back, Jeff Samarjsomething, did that. Sure he's made at least double what he would have made in football

Not yet.He's made 17.5 mil up to this point and he still hasn't got his biggest mlb contract which he'll get next year
 

Versa

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  • Higher barriers to entry as compared to basketball
  • Not as cool or popular as footba
  • Less star athletes of our race in the late 90s/2000s

You nailed it.

I'd also add that in the poor areas many blacks come from that it's way easier to buy a cheap basketball for 10 bucks at a local toy store and go hoop it up at the park then it is to buy a glove, baseball, bat, etc and find others interested in play a game not considered to be cool to most blacks.
 
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