Decrease in African Americans in baseball has officials puzzled, concerned

The Miami Herald/St. Paul Pioneer Press ^ | 22 Mar 2004 | GORDON WITTENMYER

[CharacterCounts]

Again, the analogy to golf is more precise -- the senior's tour.

Well, it would be more precise if I could stand 66 feet away and throw the golf ball at you at 90 mph.

[AmishDude]

Well, it would be more precise if I could stand 66 feet away and throw the golf ball at you at 90 mph.

Cool! But if you hit me, I get to place the ball on the green.

[CharacterCounts]

Cool! But if you hit me, I get to place the ball on the green.

If I get to hit you, you can put the ball in the hole.

[aculeus]

"No question about that, and we've been concerned," Commissioner Bud Selig said.

I'm really -- really! -- worried about why there are so few short people in the NBA.

[Cronos]

We need affirmative action to solve this. There aren't enough persons of color in sports.

Then how come the Japanese and Koreans are coming in?

[AuH2ORepublican]

"Lou Whitaker is the only Black American star on that team I can think of."

---

How could you forget about Chet Lemon? And Larry Herndon was pretty good, too.

[KC_for_Freedom]

Who cares what race the players are except for those obsessed with finding racism? BTW, if 8% of the population is black and 10% of players are black, whats the problem?

You are right. What matters is whether there is a barrier to entry or not. Since there is not, (an athlete is an athlete) then there is nothing else to see here.

[Don Simmons]

ATTENTION SPAN! That's one of the things it comes down to. Baseball is a generally slow sport compared to the other majors.
As has been stated by others in this discussion, spectator feedback plays less into the actual sport of baseball and there's little !*FLASH*BANG*!, which draws attention to the "athelete". (read: entertainer, these days) Some people are motivated more by attention being drawn to themselves than are others.
Imagine if you will: a second baseman makes a routine play and throws the runner out at first base. He starts doing some sort of dance and jumping around bumping chests with his teammates like he just saved the world. (With today's salaries, that play just earned him thousands of dollars, by the way...) How ridiculous would that look on a baseball field? It is not only common in football and basketball, it is practically mandatory these days. The industry pushes the attention button to increase entertainment value and, consequently, revenues.
I know I'll be tagged as some sort of racist for calling it as I see it, but I am reminded of an old joke: "The smarter the man, the smaller his balls." Think about it - basketball, football, soccer, baseball, tennis, golf....
I guess that doesn't speak well for hockey players though, does it? ;-)

[SouthParkRepublican]

"Baseball requires a batter to recognize pitch, location, ball motion all in the span of about .7 of a sec. Repeat this for 162 games trying to scientifically determine patterns and tendencies of pitchers who are charting your nuances, tendencies, weaknesses and hitches... Now...move on from one portion of baseball to another. Fielding. Then baserunning. Then player movements to maximize your teams potential...

I hope you realize the absurdity of this argument because the same can be made for any sport but with football, basketball, hockey, soccer and chess, there is a clock running that drives not only physical ability (exclucing chess) but VERY intensive decision making ability.

Not trying to take away from a sport I love but you're making a silly argument!

[kabar]

It is interesting that they don't count people like Bernie Wilson who is black but happens to have been born in Panama. There are plenty of black hispanics in baseball so it is not a color issue.

[DCPatriot]

Hitting a golfing hole-in-one is harder. But both golf and baseball are stultifying to watch.

I disagree.

#1. In golf, the ball is stationary. In baseball, it is coming at you at different speeds and moving up/down/in/out. In baseball once the ball is thrown, you have to make a decision to start the bat in milli-seconds. You can address the golf ball until the cows come home.

#2. You cannot get a hole in 1 on a par 4 hole...so the object is not always to "get a hole in one". All holes in 1 are a matter of luck...not skill. All homeruns are not lucky swings.

[smith288]

Not trying to take away from a sport I love but you're making a silly argument!

Not really. I have played Basketball, football and baseball and i found baseball to be THE most demanding scouting wise, studiously and intellectually.

The others also have situational instances in it but I found baseball to have me thinking at all times rather than run run run run, cut, look for ball.

Normal thought process:
"Ok, where is the outfield, are they cheating, left straight or right? Is the infield playing me tight and if so, where is the widest gap? If not, can a drag bunt get me a hit? Does the pitcher fall off the mound in a specific direction that I can take advantage of? Where is the catcher positioning himself? Can I see how the pitcher is holding the ball to determine the pitch type? Is there anyone on base that I can sacrifice in? If not, is anyone on that can steal? Do I need to protect the runner? Should I fake a bunt to see how the defense reacts? Does the pitcher looked fatigued? Is the umpire calling his balls and strikes in a specific location?"

That is just as im walking up to the batter's box...

I can honestly say playing organized sports, nothing got me thinking like baseball.

[SouthParkRepublican]

"Marathon running may be boring to those who don't understand the sport, but to foot racing afficionados it is endlessly fascinating

Im tired of people laughing at me when I tell them I'm doing Fartliks!

[DCPatriot]

Would you care to explain why you think baseball has a greater intellectual appeal than football or basketball?

George Will said it best. (paraphrased) "Baseball is like going to Church. Many attend but few understand."

At any given moment, there are dozens of things going on in a baseball game. The expression "the game inside the game" was defined with baseball in mind.

The most beautiful thing in the world growing up as a boy enamored with baseball was when for the 1st time I walked thru the concrete tunnel toward the seats and suddenly like an explosion you see the GREEN grass, the dirt infield, the mound, the white bases, and thousands and thousands of people...all under a sunny blue sky.

Sorry for the poor descriptive analysis.

[r9etb]

Shooting a basketball is a skill. Throwing a javelin is much less so.

Which shows us that you also know nothing about throwing the javelin. Have you ever tried to throw one?

Actually, I'm saying "athletic" is more specific than "physicial". But, again, "non-athletic" is not a pejorative in my usage.

What you're saying doesn't seem to have any counterpart in reality. Perhaps you'd like to tell us what you mean by "athletic."

[Rodney King]

Great post. It's hard to argue with that logic. (And I hate soccer).

[r9etb]

Im tired of people laughing at me when I tell them I'm doing Fartliks!

Runners will get that one.... I remember joking about it back in my HS cross country days. We'd combine Fartlek workouts with Indian Follow the Leader, and of course the appropriate sound effects.

[SouthParkRepublican]

"The others also have situational instances in it but I found baseball to have me thinking at all times rather than run run run run, cut, look for ball.

You must have been a post player (the right fielder of basketball). How about setting up an offense, reading a defense, watching for screens and picks, executing a play, counting time for people in the paint, seeing four people moving while four others move with them while some guy is shoving his hand in your face. Taking a shot, knowing the proximity of the rim and backboard to your body in relation to your defenders and teamates. All the time watching the game clock and shot clock. Adjusting your shot and putting the perfect draw on it to pull it through the hoop.

Silly! Your example and mine are both athletes and neither is less than the other.... unless you could ask Babe Ruth to run five miles.

[LexBaird]

All holes in 1 are a matter of luck...not skill. All homeruns are not lucky swings.

Didn't say it wasn't luck. I said it was more difficult. How many home runs does an average pro BB player rack up in a career vs how many hole-in-ones an average pro golfer gets? Besides, you were asserting baseball's athleticism, not the skill.

But it doesn't matter in the real world, anyway. Both pro baseball and pro golf (or any pro sports) are a waste of time. Spectator sports have replaced religion as the opiate of the masses.

[NathanR]

"Does it really matter whether they come from the US or Latin America?"

In a word "yes".

It all has to do with Americal racial politics. "Hispanic" is somehow called a "race", when it clearly is not. It makes as much sense as calling jews a "race".

You need to realize this when people say that white people are becoming a minority, since white hispanics are not counted as white.