Percent of Black Players in Baseball

[alexalonso]

Did you know that in the 1970s there 25 percent of players in the MLB, and today that has dropped to 8%. Why have blacks stopped playing baseball.?????

[flame_guards_member1]

Did you know that in the 1970s there 25 percent of players in the MLB, and today that has dropped to 8%. Why have blacks stopped playing baseball.?????

Basketball is the mainstream sport for Blacks today. As times change, what's cool changes with it. Baseball is seen more of a white sport for some reason, and not alot of people play it like they did before. It WAS America's favorite past time, but I guess that changed. It seems that Baseball is also more active in suburban communities nowadays...

[DetFJ]

My guess would be in the 80's the NBA finally exploded and Black people started getting more into that than baseball, especially since basketball is less expensive to play, at very least you need a plastic crate and a ball.

[AllhoodPublications]

Easy one.

There are a number of factors involved here.

First of all, Major League Baseball has implicated a draft system which caters to Whites and Foreign Players. Or should I say that doesn't respect black players? Everyone knows that White players are the face of baseball, ala Babe Ruth, Joe Dimaggio, , Nolan Ryan, Mark McGuire, Sandy Koufax etc, equally obvious is that Puerto Ricans, Colombians, Venezualians and Dominicans come cheaply. Americans have been sending scouts over there to recruit these kids, build schools, and teach them how to play baseball.

Then there's the X Factor, drafting or buying these Japanese and Korean players. This helps to globalize baseball in hopes for an economic boom and more income for Major League Baseball.

Also, in the inner cities you have a lot of single black mothers who aren't baseball friendly or just don't have the time and money to put their kids in youth leagues. Many of the fathers are struggling economically and have enough problems of their own to dedicate the time needed for their kids to play baseball, in which is secondary to Basketball and Football. Like someone above mentioned.

All of the above is directly linked to the decline of black players in MLB.

[flame_guards_member1]

Yeah, Basketball and Football both come cheap. Basketball is cheaper, imo.

[WIP]

this had me thinkin about Torri Hunter. i remember when he was on the trading block he stated that he wanted to play for predominately black city. DC or Atlanta. where did he end up. Orange County.

[Cold Bear]

equally obvious is that Puerto Ricans, Colombians, Venezualians and Dominicans come cheaply. Americans have been sending scouts over there to recruit these kids, build schools, and teach them how to play baseball.

A lot of Dominicans will tell you it's fucked up that these players make millions of dollars and then instead of building schools and resources for economic empowerment / independence of the DR they will build a whole bunch of baseball fields. This is a cycle mentality where everybody is trying to be the few lucky ones that make it big.

[AllhoodPublications]

this had me thinkin about Torri Hunter. i remember when he was on the trading block he stated that he wanted to play for predominately black city. DC or Atlanta. where did he end up. Orange County.

Yeah but look at all the Black and Brown Players in Orange County

Owner: Mexican

Players:

Gary Matthews Jr
Shone Figgins
Garrett Anderson
Tori Hunter
Darrin Oliver

Macier Itzturis- Venezuala
Juan Rivera - Venezuala
Vladimir Guerrero - Dominican Republic
Ervin Santana - Dominican
Francisco Rodriguez - Venezuela
Alex Serrano - Venezuela
Kelvim Escobar - Venezuela
Eric Aybar - Dominican
Sean Rodriguez cuban from Florida
Kendrys Morales - Cuba
Jose Arredondo - Dominican

[EmperorPenguin]

I think part of it has to do with our definition of "black". Once upon a time it was much more broad, now it's a lot more specific. Not the total answer, but I believe this has contributed to it.

[AllhoodPublications]

I'm not good with math but what percentage is 16 of 40? That equates to almost of the team being minority while the percentage of Black players in Orange county exceed the MLB average... the Angeles have about 12.5% Blacks on their team.

[alexalonso]

Did you know that in the 1970s there 25 percent of players in the MLB, and today that has dropped to 8%. Why have blacks stopped playing baseball.?????

Basketball is the mainstream sport for Blacks today. As times change, what's cool changes with it. Baseball is seen more of a white sport for some reason, and not alot of people play it like they did before. It WAS America's favorite past time, but I guess that changed. It seems that Baseball is also more active in suburban communities nowadays...

thats the most idiotic thing i have read today, "Baseball is seen more of a white sport" - by who, you? From what many black players are saying now is 1) baseball is a family sport and there are less black fathers involved in blacks lives likes in the 50s, 60s, and 70s.
2) and the crack cocaine epidemic in the 1980s decimated little league in the black community.

[alexalonso]

I think part of it has to do with our definition of "black". Once upon a time it was much more broad, now it's a lot more specific. Not the total answer, but I believe this has contributed to it.

Black is being defined as Black players born in the United States from American Citizen parents. The definition of black has not changed. The fact is that there are way less black American baseball players today in the game than in the 1960s and 1970s. it would be nice to hear some intelligent responses from people other than 1) the definition of black is the reason, and 2) baseball is looked at as a white sport.