Monday, March 22, 2004
Decrease in African Americans in Baseball Has Officials Puzzled, Concerned
Gordon Wittenmyer of the St. Paul Pioneer Press surveys baseball's deteriorating demographics among African-Americans. (Sports Illustrated published a long article on this subject last summer.) According to Wittenmyer, the percentage of African-Americans on major league rosters has declined from 27% in the mid-1970s to 19% in 1995, 10% in 2002. The change isn't all attributable to an influx of Hispanics, either: the percentage of white players has risen 6% over the past six years.
Wittenmyer notes that MLB now has only three African-American starting pitchers -- C.C. Sabathia, Darren Oliver and Dontrelle Willis -- and that a disproportionate percentage of African-American major leaguers are second- and even third-generation players like Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr. and Jerry Hairston Jr.
Jacque Jones of the Twins observes that MLB has invested far more in Latin America than in African-American neighborhoods. Of course, one reason is that since Latin American players are exempt from the amateur draft, Latin American academies operated by individual teams pay for themselves by supplying cheap talent.
MLB has operated the RBI (Reviving Baseball in the Inner City) program for more than a decade, and is about to open a $3 million Urban Youth Academy in Los Angeles, but MLB's popularity among African-Americans continues to slide.
|
Gordon Wittenmyer of the St. Paul Pioneer Press surveys baseball's deteriorating demographics among African-Americans. (Sports Illustrated published a long article on this subject last summer.) According to Wittenmyer, the percentage of African-Americans on major league rosters has declined from 27% in the mid-1970s to 19% in 1995, 10% in 2002. The change isn't all attributable to an influx of Hispanics, either: the percentage of white players has risen 6% over the past six years.
Wittenmyer notes that MLB now has only three African-American starting pitchers -- C.C. Sabathia, Darren Oliver and Dontrelle Willis -- and that a disproportionate percentage of African-American major leaguers are second- and even third-generation players like Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr. and Jerry Hairston Jr.
Jacque Jones of the Twins observes that MLB has invested far more in Latin America than in African-American neighborhoods. Of course, one reason is that since Latin American players are exempt from the amateur draft, Latin American academies operated by individual teams pay for themselves by supplying cheap talent.
MLB has operated the RBI (Reviving Baseball in the Inner City) program for more than a decade, and is about to open a $3 million Urban Youth Academy in Los Angeles, but MLB's popularity among African-Americans continues to slide.
|
