I'm going to discuss this topic anyway.
Last night at the office, a few of us were discussing the declining number of black baseball players in the majors. It really amazes me just how the number of African-American players are in the league.
What I found more interesting is that some teams have no black players and some have more Japanese than black. That is a trend far from ending.
Understand that it is not a mandate that x-number of any ethnicity play baseball or any other sport. But with Jackie Robinson having gone through the gauntlet just to have the chance to play, it makes the topic more tragic than anything.
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2 comments:
I too have noticed the decline in AfricanAmerican players in baseball and I believe economics plays into it. A gifted athlete can probably excel at in any sport he choses and if we agree on that, then the quickest way to the big bucks is either basketball or football. With kids being able to declare by the time they are 20, the NBA and NFL have a big head start on baseball. Baseball still requires (for the most part) the three to five years in the minors and a low wage, excepting the few high draft picks who are given a large signing bonus.
But at the same time, look at the influx of Hispanics into baseball, especially from the Central American countries. Baseball can be a way out of a economically depressed situation and a chance at a better life. And they sure can play the game.
If the same choices were available in 1947 that there are today for the minority athlete, it wouldn't surprise me if Jackie Robinson had ended up in the Canton, Ohio Hall Of Fame. Supposedly football was his best sport.
Look at Jim Brown. Great football player, even greater lacrosse player.
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