As we who are passionate followers of baseball remind ourselves again of the greatness of Jackie Robinson and the things he accomplished in breaking the color barrier in 1947, the elephant currently in the room comes down to the question – why are there not a lot of black baseball players around these days?
Ken Griffey, Jr. says he knows the answer
Black kids got turned off by the media’s treatment of Barry Bonds.
I am not sure that I buy this completely, although I am sure it is a fairly large factor. The author of the piece, Jeff Passan, notes that the percentage of black American baseball players hovers at around 8%, which is about as low as it was in the mid-1980’s. Griffey says that his own son would rather play football, basketball, golf, or even race dirtbikes than play baseball. He would be an obvious exception to my theory – the lack of father figures in the black community.
Allow me to explain – baseball is a sport, more than any other, that is handed down from generation to generation. It is probably the sport that requires the most teaching due to the complexities and the long, winding history of the game. In previous generations, players both black and white had that connection with the older men of the family who would instruct them in the intricacies of the game. Football and basketball don’t require a lot of instruction to pick it up. Baseball does.
I know that I wouldn’t have anywhere near the breadth of knowledge that I do about baseball without the tutelage of my father, who taught me how to strategize and how to play positions properly, as well as explain things like the infield fly, the hit and run, why the runners take off on a full count, and why sometimes a home run is as big of a rally killer as a double play.
In short, baseball is a sport that is cultivated from within; with the alarming numbers of fatherless households in the black community, and the growing number of the same within white families, it is not really a surprise that baseball is slipping when it comes to the youth of America these days. With less close-related men to cultivate and plant the seeds of America’s Pastime within young men, the looser the hold it will have on future generations. And that is a shame.
Tags: baseball, Jackie Robinson
April 20, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Kids grew up wanting to be like Mike…Jordan, not Schmidt.
Baseball in not “cool” or a part of hip hop culture (besides oddly colored Yankees hats).
You can be a football or hoops GOD as a high school athlete, but baseball? Not really. Get drafted in the first round on the MLB draft? congrats, here’s 2 million and maybe you’ll make it to the show…in 3-5 years.
April 21, 2008 at 4:13 pm
But I want to know why that is. You watch shows about baseball in pre-1980, and among black kids, it was clearly valued sport. It and basketball tended to trade in front-runner status.
You are right that baseball isn’t cool in hip-hop culture, but like the above point, I want to know how it got to that point.