Posted on 09/07/2014 6:47:28 PM PDT by ConservativeStatement
ARLINGTON, Texas -- Seattle Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon said Sunday he's concerned about the lack of African-American players and managers in baseball.
In the last few weeks, two African-American managers left the game in Houston's Bo Porter, who was fired, and on Friday, Texas' Ron Washington resigned, leaving McClendon as the only black man as a manager.
(Excerpt) Read more at espn.go.com ...
Me too, but I cannot figure out if it is 1st or 3rd? Either way, that boy out and out stole it.
The only responsibility the professional leagues should have is to pick the best players and managers based upon performance.
Introducing quotas or affirmative action to sports is antithetical to open competition.
Professional sports are not responsible to groom youngsters. That’s a parental and community issue.
So what. Neither is opera.
The reason MLB is concerned by the drop in black players is that they are not getting the better athlete as they did up to the 1970’s. You can see the problem in the inept hitting in MLB today. The problem is not at the MLB level, but the grassroots. Baseball has become a sport of the well off. The expensive club teams, private coaches, etc all start today at the age of 8. In my neck of the woods the local rec programs are a disaster. In order to have any future in the game, one must get there kid on a high price club team. Some of these teams cost upwards of $5,000 for three seasons (spring, summer, and fall). Those not making six figure salaries point there kids toward football and basketball were the costs are a lot less than baseball at the youth level. Back 30 years ago, a kid’s parents paid $10 for their kid to play little league, and the best to the worst athletes were mixed on the local LL teams. Today the better players with money are gone off to their club teams. The less well off good athlete does not want to be left behind with the fat kids and the gawks, so he leaves for another sport. The local rec teams are left with kids who cannot play a lick, and in some cases just fold up. Even the MLB’s program called RBI has been a complete failure to turn the trend around. What I have seen in my state is in the desire to win, the RBI teams are recruiting the rich suburban kid with the private coaches to play for the RBI team in tournaments. Why, so they can win. They are not alone. The traditional black colleges baseball teams are mostly white, I’m not kidding.
Without the issue of race being involved, the NHL is also seeing the same problem with their talent pool. Today, hockey is too expensive for most kids of modest means to play in Canada. In the last few drafts, most of the North American kids selected hail from the upper middle class and higher up the income scale. Most of the draft picks come from families who make six figures. No more farm boys from Alberta, or sons of steel workers in Hamilton. Now it is lawyer’s son from Toronto or doctor’s boy from Vancouver. Read an article from Canada that predicted that soccer will become the more popular sport in Canada, just for the reason that most Canadian kids cannot afford to play any type of organized hockey.
In my state, NJ, it used to be when I grew up that in spring sports, lacrosse was the rich man’s game while baseball was the sport of the common man. Now baseball has become the sport of the rich kid, while the common man’s kid plays lacrosse. It is amazing how this happened in only a 30 year time frame.
So, a little affirmative action is the ticket? Perhaps race preferences are doing more harm than good across the board. For those who insist on pushing failure and expecting the same results are living in a fantasy land on the unicorn farm.
Where has McClendon been?
Black sportscasters in LA routinely acknowledge that blacks prefer basketball these days. One factor is money, which is much higher in basketball.
“Hasn’t MLB been taken over by Hispanic players from Central America and the Caribbean?”
Baseball teams are able to sign three Central American or Caribbean minor leaguers for the price of one American.
“35 games under .500 is the reason Washington is gone. He resigned before they fired him,”
I don’t buy that. As an Angel fan I’ll still admit that the Rangers were hit very hard by injuries to their front line players this year. They didn’t have a prayer in the AL West up against Anaheim, Oakland and Seattle. Their ownership knows that their poor record isn’t due to Washington.
sports suck now.
they are the new pc battleground.
real men no longer in control telling people to shove their pc-ness back up their asses.
he’s also just insulted the entire sport and doesn’t even know it.
condescending hypocritical a-hole.
+1
the Transgendered Baseball Players of America RESENT being left off that list...
I may have to backtrack....to the page that contains the image...and see what I can determine there
“But then there should 3 to 4 American Blacks on each team and I think there are that many”
Last year there were zero blacks on the St. Louis Cardinals for a big part of the year, this year there have been two, not counting Oscar Tevaris, who is dark skinned Latino.
Stan Freeman is the only black that has been with them most of this year, they only got their second one recently.
Thanx
I notice
In the llws. The best two teams
We’re mostly black kids. Wonder if that had any significance
I,for one,am absolutely willing to assume that he NBA is a true meritocracy when it comes to both players' rosters *and* coaches.And as such I'm not gonna criticize the NBA for being 80-90% black.Assuming that MLB is also a true meritocracy why is this story even being released?
It’s almost like baseball players generally need less raw physical athletic ability than is generally required in sports where blacks tend to be more disproportionately represented.
Freegards
There’s definitely something to that, but I bet the league could be 75% incredible black athletes and hitting would still be way, way down.
I think the current defensive strategies and prevailing offensive approaches more than explain the down offense.
Hitters see pitchers less times by game and season, and they throw harder, relief velocity is way up over the last ten years. All the defensive shifting is working, and will continue to work until hitters change their approach. The current approach of most hitters lends itself to strike outs, and relief pitchers stuff is better than it has ever been. No one really care about striking out, even if they value walks more.
Freegards
you make some excellent points about both baseball and hockey. And it’s sad too but it is what it is.
But here is something to chew on too. Baseball is now being dominated by Hispanics (central americans). These kids live in poverty. No expensive hitting coaches/clinics/travel teams in these regions. So why are they doing so well?
I can make a guess. They play a TON of baseball as kids and they love it too. Now that may not work here in the US (or Canada for hockey), but it seems to be doing well south of us for baseball.
I may go against the tide with my son. No travel teams. I’m just going to play with him a ton and teach him what I know. I’ll let the chips fall the way they do. He may not be great compared to the kids who have thousands of dollars spent on them, but he WILL be damn good and be able to compete up to High School ball. Guarantee it (unless an injury occurs).
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