In your opinion what caused the decline of African Americans in Baseball?

[Trip]

less and less white people are playing baseball every year too

 

[MikeBrownsJob]

cool, hypothetical now what if your kid doesnt make it at all?
because we're in this thread as if all yall pushing your kids to playing baseball gonna make it

Education will always be number 1, but for my kids most likely distance running because of the culture. I wouldn't put too much stock into whether or not my kids will make it to a professional level in athletics but out of the 3 major sports baseball is the easiest and more likely to be paid.

 

[The G.O.D II]

There are still plenty of black athletes in baseball like matt kemp, prince fielder, the uptons, Andrew mccrutchen, etc. The sport of baseball just isnt popular now, especially with the resurgence of basketball. Plus, executives and scouts are focusing heavy in latin american markets

 

[Danie84]

It doesn't have that sexy allure that attracts kids to want to play in the NBA and NFL

When I was child in the late 80s, my older brother played baseball. I can't remember it right, but it was a

Brooklyn league for kids 10 and up in Flatbush. This was was around 88-92. After that, basketball was everyones's calling . But, Griffey was always a star in the hood

 

[Trip]

Kids growing up now and this past decade less and less are playing multiple sports. Rarely was baseball a kids #1 sport aside from the Italian kids, honestly.

In the Northeast now, with the addition of kids focusing on one sport, baseball is now competing heavily with lacrosse in the spring.

 

[Icantspell]

because every black athlete is either playing basketball or football

play baseball brehs , they stand out more:play:

 

[MBwithadream]

Basketball courts is where the hoz are at

Money bring bytches,
bytches bring lies,

 

[Consigliere]

Lack of equipment, parks, and little league teams. And then you gotta find enough kids to field 2 teams.

Its much easier & more satisfying to hoop by yourself or find a pickup game than it is to practice hitting off a practice tee.

The kids I know who played baseball got pushed into it by their parents. More parents have to push their sons into other sports: get that easy scholarship money playing something other than football/ basketball. If you're a gifted athlete you can always crossover later like Tim Duncan.

 

[NYK Loyalist]

less and less white people are playing baseball every year too

This is exactly what I was thinking also. I don't watch much baseball but when I do it seems like 80% of the league is Latin.

I think baseball's decline in popularity is due to a lot of reasons and its going to get worse:

- they don't even try to market the game to young people like the nfl and NBA do
- these days things move faster than ever and baseball is slow and boring to the younger generation
- the season is way to long so their are very few must see games other than at the end of season if there's a playoff race
- they do a terrible job at marketing their stars whereas the NBA and NFL do a great job. Who is their lebron right now? I have no idea
- steroids. Everyone knows what happened from 98 to mid 00's wasn't legit and now that the home run numbers are back to normal it's not as appealing because there's not as much scoring

I'm sure I could come up with more but that's all I have for now

 

[Goat poster]

It's mostly Asian/Black middle class neighbourhood.

I don't see anyone playing on the fields where I am except for the weekends in the summer, when you might see church leagues playing 1-2 games there.

Okay yeah I live around mostly white and Asian kids.


It's crazy because 50 years ago baseball (along with boxing) was the premier sport for black folks.

 

[The War Report]

Baseball doesn't offer you instant gratification like Football/Basketball.

 

[THE MACHINE]

had a lot to do with it. He was on every kids television until mid June in the 90s because of all the championship runs which took up a lot of the first half of the season. Add in the fact that Griffey got injured often around the turn of the millenium and couldnt offset the MJ effect. The Bonds witchhunt. The game moves really slow and doesnt really reward athleticism, you have to watch it in person to really be inspired by it. You could literally intentionally walk the star player every at bat for an entire series. And lets be real, them Dominicans can play

 

[charknicks]

There are lots of reasons that baseball isnt popular anymore for the black community:

-Slow pace of game- cats are trying to sit around for 9 innings/ 3 hours to stand in a field all day, and possibly not do anything at all the whole game.

-College shine- college baseball gets no love compared to college football and basketball. Fball and Bball are on all day, everyday during their seasons, but baseball is reduced to 1 game here and there on ESPNU. No ESPN, no ABC, no Fox, no CBS. No national shine to get your name out there.

-Minor league system/ draft (biggest reason, IMO)- basketball and football players (if drafted) are drafted by the major league team, and are pretty much on the squad. If a baseball player is drafted, for the most part (if they ever make it), its 3-5 years before they will make it to a major league roster. Who here even watches the MLB draft? Who even knows when the draft is?

Just like someone said earlier, baseball players can play for 20 years, where football averages 2-3. Big name teams like the Yankees (which would get you big press) dont try and bring minor league cats up in the system. They will just sell you off to get another name player and keep it moving. It just makes it real tough for cats to get the instant gratification/ fame that dudes would be looking for.

 

[#1 pick]

Michael Jordan and the lack of fathers.

 

[Khadafhi]

I think it has to do with 1 things. One is baseball is not as glamorous to the black community as baseball and football. Hell it's not even bein marketed to us anymore. Second baseball is expensive compared to basketball and football. In baseball u need a glove, shoes, bat etc...