The number of Black American players in Major League Baseball has plummeted to just 6%, offering a warning about what can happen when institutions de-emphasize diversity.
This is a teachable moment at a time when diversity efforts across various arenas (no pun intended) have come under attack. Major League Baseball, unfortunately, is a prime example of what it looks like to talk the talk without always walking the walk.
Baseball’s failure to get out in front of the problem in the 1970s and early 1980s had real and lasting consequences. The number of Black players in MLB remained relatively stable from 1977 to 1987 — and then the well nearly dried up. Today, the number of African-American players sits at an all-time low of roughly 7 percent. If MLB wants to increase Black American participation in the game, the league will have to make massive investment in youth baseball, bring more Black decision-makers into the fold, and stop repeating the same tired lines that the game isn’t as cool or appealing as basketball and football.
Today’s baseball fans, a demographic group that itself is also shrinking, have far fewer Black stars to get excited about. Yesterday’s icons warned us this day was coming. But the league never righted the ship. And that makes it fair to ask: Even now, is the league truly dedicated to fixing this problem?
The MLB is about 30% Latino (including many Afro-Latinos) and has the most Asian players of any major sport in America. It seems that Latinos and Asians aren’t seen as “real” diversity.
@LibertyAriaDemocrat1mo1MO
Asians will never going to be the right kind of minority in America
The MLB is the only major sports league in America where Latino and Asian players have any presence at all. There are almost no Latino/Asian players in the NBA, NFL, and NHL, while the MLB regularly promotes Latino players like Guerrero Jr. and Asian players like Ohtani.
@NominationEliPatriot1mo1MO
If golf is a major sport in America, it's getting to be pretty Asian. Of the current top 25 US men's golfers, 2 are East Asian, 2 are South Asian, 2 are hapa. (And one Pacific Islander and one Persian *** )
@ISIDEWITH1mo1MO
@ISIDEWITH1mo1MO
@ISIDEWITH1mo1MO
@ISIDEWITH1mo1MO
@ISIDEWITH1mo1MO
This matters about as much as mentioning that most NFL players have a certain colour of eyes, or hair – skin colour is just as irrelevant.
@MinorityJohnRepublican1mo1MO
Does the NBA need to “de-emphasize diversity?”
@JaguarCharlieForward1mo1MO
Maybe a dire warning for mlb about what can happen when other codes outbid you for the best athletes. The West Indian cricket team once stood atop the world for almost two decades. A truly fearsome outfit. Nowadays young West Indians prob play b ball in Florida. The West Indians are such a rabble they have to qualify for the world cup that once they owned.
Anything short of black dominance is considered a troubling lack of diversity for people like this.
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