Jackie Robinson, who would have been one-hundred years old this February, stepped out of the Dodgers’ dugout and took his position at first base on April 15, 1947. He was the first African-American to play major-league baseball since the sport became restricted to whites in the 1880s. More than half of the 26,623 spectators at Ebbets Field that day were black. (An unintended consequence: the beginning of the end of the Negro Leagues.) Three decades later, 19% of MLB players were black.
African-Americans constitute 14% of the U.S. population; today, they make up just 8% of the MLB rosters. (Only 3% of pitchers.) By contrast, 74% of NBA players are black; in the NFL it’s 60%, even soccer’s 10% exceeds MLB.
Major League Baseball is concerned about its future. So concerned that in 1989 they initiated their RBI campaign – Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities. The program now supports youth leagues in 200 cities, but so far without appreciable results.
According to the conservative National Review, the reason for the decline in African-American baseball players is the increase in out-of-wedlock births. A kid needs a father to teach him the game. Since 1980 the percentage of black children born to single parents has increased by 23%; Hispanic unwed births have increased by 121%; for white people it’s 300%.
Could it be that it takes two breadwinners to support what it takes to develop a pro athlete? Success in sports largely requires participation in year-round programs that typically include travel to out-of-town tournaments. High-caliber coaching costs money, too. Somebody’s dad in the neighborhood isn’t a good enough coach any more. All-star outfielder Andrew McCutchen wrote about the challenge facing an athlete without the financial means to participate in a high-profile program.
HBO recently broadcast a segment on “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” illustrating the divide and the disadvantage those in the lower economic strata face. (Not only for elite athletes, but also for the general physical health of all kids.)
Click here to view the full 13-minute segment.
Others analyzing this dilemma have come up with three factors:
- Deindustrialization – the loss of manufacturing jobs that support middle-class lifestyles have made it difficult for communities to support facilities for youth baseball. Shoes, glove, a bat and a couple acres are necessary to play baseball. A pair of sneakers, a patch of blacktop and a hoop is enough for a young person to learn the game of basketball.
- Suburbanization – baseball fields take up space and require money to maintain. Both are in the burbs.
- Mass incarceration – in 1980 the prison population was about 350,000; today, it’s nearly 2,500,000. The war on drugs during the 80s and 90s was especially hard on the black population, incarcerating many thousands of non-violent offenders as criminals.
With few black stars to emulate, few African-American kids see baseball as their athletic path; they much more follow sports such as basketball or football. Black players make up less than 3% of collegiate baseball ranks. Full-ride scholarships are the norm for college football and basketball, very rare for baseball.
Jackie Robinson is revered. Almost seven decades after he first took the field, maybe who he really paved the way for are Latin-American players.
