Turn Off Ads?
Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 23

Thread: MLB looking into lack of African-American players

  1. #1
    Rally Onion! Chip R's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2000
    Location
    Cincinnati, OH
    Posts
    41,751

    MLB looking into lack of African-American players

    Quote Originally Posted by Raisor View Post
    I was wrong
    Quote Originally Posted by Raisor View Post
    Chip is right


  2. Turn Off Ads?
  3. #2
    5.3 Posts Abv Replacement BluegrassRedleg's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    South of Cincinnati
    Posts
    6,246

    Re: MLB looking into lack of African-American players

    I don't think you'll ever see the trend reverse in the USA, sadly. That's why so much talent is coming through places like the Dominican Republic now. Their kids aren't sitting around texting each other and playing games on smartphones all day.
    Rounding third and heading for home...

  4. #3
    Rally Onion! Chip R's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2000
    Location
    Cincinnati, OH
    Posts
    41,751

    Re: MLB looking into lack of African-American players

    Also here is the direct link to a Jimmy Rollins interview the article references. I think he makes a lot of good points and offers a great deal of insight.

    http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/bas...and-baseball-n
    Quote Originally Posted by Raisor View Post
    I was wrong
    Quote Originally Posted by Raisor View Post
    Chip is right

  5. #4
    Member RedsManRick's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Guelph, ON
    Posts
    19,441

    Re: MLB looking into lack of African-American players

    Here's what I don't get: "Blacks" are ~13% of the U.S. population. What is MLB's target % of blacks in professional baseball?

    If you look at just American-born players in MLB, blacks are almost perfectly proportionately represented. That Hispanic and Asian players from overseas are "taking jobs" from Americans is the source of the ethnicity "problem", if you want to think of this way.

    And if you want to suggest that baseball should look like professional football or basketball, I'd suggest a whole different kind of racism is going on.
    Games are won on run differential -- scoring more than your opponent. Runs are runs, scored or prevented they all count the same. Worry about scoring more and allowing fewer, not which positions contribute to which side of the equation or how "consistent" you are at your current level of performance.

  6. Likes:

    *BaseClogger* (04-21-2013),BuckeyeRedleg (04-21-2013),durl (04-22-2013),George Anderson (04-19-2013),gilpdawg (04-20-2013),RadfordVA (04-20-2013),texasdave (04-20-2013),Tony Cloninger (04-19-2013)

  7. #5
    Rally Onion! Chip R's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2000
    Location
    Cincinnati, OH
    Posts
    41,751

    Re: MLB looking into lack of African-American players

    The Keown article brought up the subject of youth baseball where you have travel teams and that makes the cost of it somewhat prohibitive for African American youths. However, don't AAU teams in basketball pretty much do the same thing? Is there a difference?
    Quote Originally Posted by Raisor View Post
    I was wrong
    Quote Originally Posted by Raisor View Post
    Chip is right

  8. #6
    Member
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Posts
    906

    Re: MLB looking into lack of African-American players

    I dont think this is a "problem" If more black people are trending to other sports whats the big deal.

    I dont see the NBA making a big deal or making an effort to get more white americans in the game. I dont see it as a problem either.

  9. Likes:

    George Anderson (04-19-2013)

  10. #7
    5.3 Posts Abv Replacement BluegrassRedleg's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    South of Cincinnati
    Posts
    6,246

    Re: MLB looking into lack of African-American players

    Quote Originally Posted by Chip R View Post
    The Keown article brought up the subject of youth baseball where you have travel teams and that makes the cost of it somewhat prohibitive for African American youths. However, don't AAU teams in basketball pretty much do the same thing? Is there a difference?
    Big difference is the shoe companies foot the bill for a lot of the AAU stuff because some of those guys end up making them a lot of money down the road. I think in baseball a lot of that falls on the kids and their families. That is a valid point the article makes.
    Rounding third and heading for home...

  11. #8
    Member RedsManRick's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Guelph, ON
    Posts
    19,441

    Re: MLB looking into lack of African-American players

    Quote Originally Posted by BluegrassRedleg View Post
    Big difference is the shoe companies foot the bill for a lot of the AAU stuff because some of those guys end up making them a lot of money down the road. I think in baseball a lot of that falls on the kids and their families. That is a valid point the article makes.
    Right. If MLB has a player development problem whereby they are losing talent to other sports, they should do something about it.

    But the ethnicity angle makes it seem like a racial issue when it's actually a socio-economic one. And setting the optics aside, thinking it's a racial issue when it's not really a racial issue might suggest the wrong "solution".

    Just wait, MLB is going to come to the conclusion that the problem is that the sport isn't culturally appealing to urban kids and will tell teams to run more promotions with hip hop and rap artists. And as a league, they'll do a little more marketing. And the reason they'll come to that conclusion is because it's basically free and makes it look like they're doing something.

    As you point out, the real solution involves 10s of millions of dollars funding traveling leagues and there's no way the owners spring for that out of their own pockets.
    Last edited by RedsManRick; 04-19-2013 at 08:52 PM.
    Games are won on run differential -- scoring more than your opponent. Runs are runs, scored or prevented they all count the same. Worry about scoring more and allowing fewer, not which positions contribute to which side of the equation or how "consistent" you are at your current level of performance.

  12. #9
    Box of Frogs edabbs44's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    NJ
    Posts
    16,358

    Re: MLB looking into lack of African-American players

    Whites made up 28% of the NBA in 1990. 17% very recently. Sounds like committee time.

  13. Likes:

    George Anderson (04-19-2013)

  14. #10
    Member Crumbley's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Toledo
    Posts
    1,858
    The poor and lower middle class have gotten poorer. Black people are more likely to be lower income. A baseball game takes a lot of infrastructure. 18 kids need gloves, a field, bats, balls, helmets, etc. Basketball is a lot more accessible.

  15. Likes:

    marcshoe (04-20-2013)

  16. #11
    5.3 Posts Abv Replacement BluegrassRedleg's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    South of Cincinnati
    Posts
    6,246

    Re: MLB looking into lack of African-American players

    Quote Originally Posted by Crumbley View Post
    The poor and lower middle class have gotten poorer. Black people are more likely to be lower income. A baseball game takes a lot of infrastructure. 18 kids need gloves, a field, bats, balls, helmets, etc. Basketball is a lot more accessible.
    I agree in general, but poor people have always played baseball for years and years going back to stickball in inner cities and backyard baseball in the burbs. It's got to be more than that. You can get a glove and a bat for less than a pair of basketball shoes these days.
    Rounding third and heading for home...

  17. #12
    Member CrackerJack's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2000
    Location
    Cincinnati, OH
    Posts
    5,190

    Re: MLB looking into lack of African-American players

    The drop from a high of 20%-27% to the current 8% (approx) is alarming, and I don't really have a problem with it being "seriously looked into." It's not nearly as popular of a sport as it used to be in the AA community, but why exactly?

    Any brand/business takes losing such a large portion of a demographic over time seriously, especially when so many of their greatest players over time have been black. They investigate it, hire people to improve it.

    It's not as if a racial quota is being implemented, but I sense that is where fearful folks go to immediately, without taking the issue more seriously.

  18. #13
    Member improbus's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Columbus, OH
    Posts
    2,137

    Re: MLB looking into lack of African-American players

    The next time you are at a major league game, look around and count the black fans in the stadium. GABP isn't exactly a diverse place. It seems like that is where MLB should start its campaign.
    Variatio delectat - Cicero

  19. Likes:

    marcshoe (04-20-2013)

  20. #14
    Big Red Machine RedsBaron's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2000
    Location
    Out Wayne
    Posts
    24,134

    Re: MLB looking into lack of African-American players

    Quote Originally Posted by BluegrassRedleg View Post
    I agree in general, but poor people have always played baseball for years and years going back to stickball in inner cities and backyard baseball in the burbs. It's got to be more than that. You can get a glove and a bat for less than a pair of basketball shoes these days.
    I wonder if part of it is that you need more than just a glove and a bat to play baseball as a kid today. I didn't grow up in a city playing stickball but I did play a lot of backyard baseball as a kid many, many decades ago. All we needed was a ball, a couple of bats and a few gloves- if a kid didn't have a glove he borrowed one when the opposing team was at bat. We sometimes used rocks for bases, had no adults to coach or umpire, and played in fields with no fences or clearly marked baselines. Obviously we didn't have uniforms.
    My kids didn't play baseball like that. The version they played, with uniforms, pitching machines, equipment, organization, etc., was much more expensive and perhaps less accessible. Pick up basketball is easier to do.
    "Hey...Dad. Wanna Have A Catch?" Kevin Costner in "Field Of Dreams."

  21. Likes:

    ervinsm84 (04-20-2013),marcshoe (04-20-2013)

  22. #15
    Rally Onion! Chip R's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2000
    Location
    Cincinnati, OH
    Posts
    41,751

    Re: MLB looking into lack of African-American players

    Quote Originally Posted by improbus View Post
    The next time you are at a major league game, look around and count the black fans in the stadium.
    I think you could say the same thing about any pro sport including the NBA.
    Quote Originally Posted by Raisor View Post
    I was wrong
    Quote Originally Posted by Raisor View Post
    Chip is right


Turn Off Ads?

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

Board Moderators may, at their discretion and judgment, delete and/or edit any messages that violate any of the following guidelines: 1. Explicit references to alleged illegal or unlawful acts. 2. Graphic sexual descriptions. 3. Racial or ethnic slurs. 4. Use of edgy language (including masked profanity). 5. Direct personal attacks, flames, fights, trolling, baiting, name-calling, general nuisance, excessive player criticism or anything along those lines. 6. Posting spam. 7. Each person may have only one user account. It is fine to be critical here - that's what this board is for. But let's not beat a subject or a player to death, please.

Thank you, and most importantly, enjoy yourselves!


RedsZone.com is a privately owned website and is not affiliated with the Cincinnati Reds or Major League Baseball


Contact us: Boss | Gallen5862 | Plus Plus | Powel Crosley | RedlegJake | The Operator