Where have you gone Jackie Robinson?
If the great Jackie Robinson where alive today I truly believe he would be appauled by the current status of Major League baseball for many reasons, and chief among them would be the lack of African-American players manager and front office personnell. Where has the black ballplayer gone? What happened in America? Is it that baseball is seen as a ceberal game or even not flashy enough for the young black athlete to participate in? Think about it, if the young black male see's his only way out of the "ghetto" is to play professional sports than why would he not choose baseball? You can make more money than football and basketball and with 1/10 the physical strain on your body.
Why has the allure of this once great sport gone away? I wish I knew, I find nothing more enjoyable than learning about the Negro Leagues of the ealry 20th century. These league were a source of pride, empowerment to the community and most of all an economic modality for the city. Baseball in the tradition of all sports was handed down father to son, taught the game the right way and produced some of this countries finest athletes and finest men. Jackie Robinson did as much as any man in this country for equality, Henry Aaron was the embodiment of all that was good in sports, and the Say Hey Kid himself Willie Mays always exuded a youthfulness that we wish we all still had. Back in 1960 half of the league was African American and today that figure stands at 13%. That is dreadful, and when you consider some of today's finest players are African American; Barry Bonds, Torii Hunter and Gary Sheffield. However, the disturbing trend is that all of those players are outfielders.
As usual it seems that white people may have fucked up a good thing once again. Back in the 1960's black ballplayers played all positions in the majors, including catcher, pitcher and third base. By 2002 the black catcher and third basemen where nearly extinct, and whereas in 1960 only 20% of blacks were outfieders almost 40% of balcks are now outfielders. I guess the white man (like Al Campanis) thinks only balcks can play a position where speed and athleticisma are a nescessity.
To me it is a troubling reality that the black youth of America no longer see baseball as an exciting game. I watch the Little League World Series every year, and I cannot remember seeing a black ballplayer. Part of the fault lies in baseball itself, which markets toward the ever prevelant Latino population which is now taking over the sport. I want to see all races represented in all segments of athletics. I wish I could instill in kids that diversity is a good thing, but it seems even in sports in the country we still want to segregate ourselves. Deep down we seem to be a country that enjoys Jim Crowism of sperate but equal. There are no more white playing basketball, which was a game that grew out of the immigrants of the city, most prevelant among that population young European Jewish kids, but now they are all gone. Baseball heros in the 50's, 60's and 70's including great men like Monty Irvin, Larry Doby, Bob Gibson, Willie McCovey, Rod Carew, Joe Morgan, an Fegie Jenkins. All great African American ballplayers and I guarantee you LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony have no idea who they are.
Why has the allure of this once great sport gone away? I wish I knew, I find nothing more enjoyable than learning about the Negro Leagues of the ealry 20th century. These league were a source of pride, empowerment to the community and most of all an economic modality for the city. Baseball in the tradition of all sports was handed down father to son, taught the game the right way and produced some of this countries finest athletes and finest men. Jackie Robinson did as much as any man in this country for equality, Henry Aaron was the embodiment of all that was good in sports, and the Say Hey Kid himself Willie Mays always exuded a youthfulness that we wish we all still had. Back in 1960 half of the league was African American and today that figure stands at 13%. That is dreadful, and when you consider some of today's finest players are African American; Barry Bonds, Torii Hunter and Gary Sheffield. However, the disturbing trend is that all of those players are outfielders.
As usual it seems that white people may have fucked up a good thing once again. Back in the 1960's black ballplayers played all positions in the majors, including catcher, pitcher and third base. By 2002 the black catcher and third basemen where nearly extinct, and whereas in 1960 only 20% of blacks were outfieders almost 40% of balcks are now outfielders. I guess the white man (like Al Campanis) thinks only balcks can play a position where speed and athleticisma are a nescessity.
To me it is a troubling reality that the black youth of America no longer see baseball as an exciting game. I watch the Little League World Series every year, and I cannot remember seeing a black ballplayer. Part of the fault lies in baseball itself, which markets toward the ever prevelant Latino population which is now taking over the sport. I want to see all races represented in all segments of athletics. I wish I could instill in kids that diversity is a good thing, but it seems even in sports in the country we still want to segregate ourselves. Deep down we seem to be a country that enjoys Jim Crowism of sperate but equal. There are no more white playing basketball, which was a game that grew out of the immigrants of the city, most prevelant among that population young European Jewish kids, but now they are all gone. Baseball heros in the 50's, 60's and 70's including great men like Monty Irvin, Larry Doby, Bob Gibson, Willie McCovey, Rod Carew, Joe Morgan, an Fegie Jenkins. All great African American ballplayers and I guarantee you LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony have no idea who they are.
1 Comments:
I will be leaving this position on Aug. 14, but in my time here, I was able to meet George "Boomer" Scott. He played with the Red Sox in the late 60s and 70s, was a good overall player and finished in the top 10 in the MVP award the year Fred Lynn won it. He responded to a column I wrote about the lack of fundementals that I recently saw at an all-star district game, meaning the best kids in the region. It was dreadful to watch these 9-10 year olds swinging at pitches over their heads, but i digress...
He was saying the same thing that the fat, yet intelligent man, says in this rant. Young black athletes don't play baseball anymore, but that may have to do with the fact that young athletes don't play baseball anymore. The cerebel kids that would possibley grow up to become the next Greg Maddux, realizing that it doesn't take a 100 mph fastball to play in the majors, decided with their moms in their SUV's that they would rather play soccer (futbol) and get a work out instead of playing a game they consider boring on television.
Here in the Mississippi Delta, kids of all colors play little league baseball and I covered a 11-12 year old Cal Ripken regional, which drew teams from Texas, Oklahoma and the Virgin islands. There was some great talent there and there were black, white, spanish and the like all playing. But the difference between this generation and ours is the Playstation 2 and X-Box that we all have in our homes.
Back when those of us in Generation Y (meaning you are now 23-29), Video games were prevelant, but they weren't the be all, end all that they are today. They didn't grab us as much as they did when I was in college and spent hours watching my roommate shot bad guys as James Bond while we scarfed down pizza in a post high hunger.
When I was younger, we played our fair share of Nintendo and Sega Genesis, but we also would organize football games across town. When I was 7 up until about 13, you could find me on Alicia Street with Jimmy Finch, Robbie Parham, Brian John and countless others. it was either street football or baseball, if we didn't go over to the high school to use the big wall as a backstop for stickball. For my THS grads, that big fence parralel to the gym was a great simulation of Fenway Park...
But my point is lost thru reminecsing. Kids don't play outside anymore, and can you blame them? I can't go outside because Al Queda may drop a gas bomb in the air, or I might get snipped at the gas station or a mosquito may bite me and I'll get west nile virus or any other ailment that the news media is pitching today.
For all you Michael Moorer haters out there, you must admit one thing. When he tlaked about the fear factor in American society today in "Bowling for Columbine", he wasn't kidding. A fact like over the past 10 years, crime has gone down, but the news coverage of it has gone up is just... well, scary.
But once again, I digress. Kids in general don't play and if they do, they play something where their parents can drop them off and not worry, like a basketball gym at the YMCA or a soccer game because even though I'm dropping them off, I know there are 10 white moms who will watch their kids with large expectations and no thoughts about playing professionally.
Baseball is a poor man's game, always has been. As a sport, it's pricing itself out of its core market - the fanatic that knows about that young prospect, but doesn't have the money to see him when he comes up. I love the Mets, but I can count on one hand the amount of times that I've paid over $25 for a ticket to watch them play. Why when I can pay a guy $10 for a seat in the bleachers?
I've rambled on, but the game is in the hands of the Latinos, the kids that will play it iwth a piece of cardboard as a glove and a garbage lid as home plate.
Daisy Fuentes OUT
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