[Ironfocus]

One of the best sports articles I have read is how Jason Heyward of the Braves made it to pro baseball. His commitment from the age of 15 was incredible, but another aspect highlighted was the amount of money and time it took from his family.

His dad drove 80 miles per day to have him practice and play. He played on one of the best travel team organizations in the country, East Cobb in the Atlanta area. He practiced with his team 6 days per week, even after games they had practice. In addition, from the age of 15, he hit 1,000 balls per week, apart from what they did at team or school practice. He is a great natural athlete, and still had to do all of that to make it to the big show.

All of those things, as I can personally attest with a promising young player myself, costs money and a time commitment from the whole family, which I’m sure is abundantly present in the inner city communities.

Those wringing their hands about the lack of black players should take a realistic look at the incredible effort it took from Heyward and his family, and see how that is the limiting factor for most other players, regardless of race. It takes a lot of time and money in the USA to develop the skills to be a pro-baseball player.

[Ironfocus]

“....which I’m sure is NOT abundantly present in the inner city communities.”

[cripplecreek]

East Cobb in the Atlanta area.

Which is kind of funny in itself because Ty Cobb is quite unfairly painted as a racist through the lens of today. He was just plain mean spirited but I see no evidence that he single blacks out for his fits of rage.

As I understand it, Cobb built a hospital for blacks and staffed it with black doctors that still exists (in its desegregated form) in Atlanta today.

[driftless2]

"time and money"

I doubt many of the players from Latin America and the Caribbean had a lot of money. But they did have the talent.