Lack of black players troubles baseball execs. Astros are first World Series team since ཱ to have no black players; fewer than 10 percent in MLB are black
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Joe Morgan worries about the face of baseball. Watching the World Series, Morgan, a Hall of Famer, is troubled by what he sees.
His old team, the Houston Astros, was down 2-0 to the Chicago White Sox heading into last night's game, but it's not their lineup that concerns Morgan. It's their makeup.
The Astros are the first World Series team in more than a half century with a roster that doesn't include a single black player.
"Of course I noticed it. How could you not?" Morgan said while the Astros took batting practice before the opener in Chicago. "But they're not the only ones. There are two or three teams that didn't have any African-American players this year."
Morgan said that it's a predicament and a challenge for Major League Baseball. While more players from around the world are making it to the majors - Japan, Korea - the number of blacks is declining.
"It's a daunting task to get African-American kids into baseball, and I don't see the trend changing," he said.
The last World Series team without a black player was the 1953 New York Yankees. It wasn't until 1955 - eight years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947 - that Elston Howard became the first black in Yankees pinstripes.
Black players accounted for just about 9 percent of big-league rosters this season.
"We know that we have to work to do," Commissioner Bud Selig said yesterday. "We'll continue to intensify our efforts.
"I'm very aware, I'm extremely sensitive about it, and I feel badly about it. But we need to get to work to change things."
General Manager Tim Purpura of the Astros agrees.
"I think it's a huge, huge problem for baseball," he said. "The pool of African-American players just isn't there. And as baseball becomes more college oriented in its draft, there aren't a lot of players to pick.
"The African-American athletes are going into other sports," he said.
The most recent survey by the NCAA, taken during the 2003-04 season, showed that only 6 percent of Division I baseball players were black. Half of the men's-basketball players were black, as were 44 percent of football players.
Houston has six Hispanic players - it was the first team to open a baseball academy in Venezuela. Bench coach Cecil Cooper is black.
Outfielders Charles Gipson and Charlton Jimerson, both black, played for the Astros during the regular season.
The White Sox have three black players on their Series roster: Jermaine Dye, Carl Everett and Willie Harris, along with coaches Tim Raines and Harold Baines. They also have eight Hispanic players and Tadahito Iguchi, a Japanese second baseman.
"We're diverse because we're looking for the best in talent and character," General Manager Ken Williams said before the Series started. "It just happened that way. I could care less what the makeup of the club is as long as it works as a whole."
Williams is the only black general manager in the majors. Williams, a former big-league outfielder, joined the White Sox in 1992 as a scout, confident he could find players in the inner cities. After a year of trying, Williams felt as if he'd failed.
Morgan is disturbed by what he's found, too.
Morgan, a two-time NL MVP, helped Cincinnati win two straight championships. In 1976, along with fellow black teammates Ken Griffey, George Foster and Dan Dries-sen, the Big Red Machine swept a Yankees team that had 10 black players on its roster.
Just 10 years ago, Atlanta and Cleveland each had five black players when they met in the World Series.
In 2003, Derek Jeter and the Yankees lost to Florida. Jeter's father is black and his mother is white; Jeter, an All-Star shortstop, has said he considers himself both black and white.
"There's a perception among African-American kids that they're not welcome here, that baseball is not for inner-city kids," Morgan said. "It's not true, and I hate that the perception is out there."
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Is diversity not diverse as long as there aren't enough blacks? What percentage would be enough?
I have no baseball loyalties but my favorite sports team, the Dallas Cowboys, are currently 61% black - 41 out of 67 active and inactive players. There is also I believe one Hispanic and one Vietnamese Cowboys player. Should I be concerned there aren't enough whites on my Cowboys, or should I think "I could care less what the makeup of the club is as long as it works as a whole"?
Steve |
