Posted on 10/31/2022 6:50:13 AM PDT by SJackson
Last Wednesday, Ben Walker of the Associated Press surveyed our fractured, divided land and zeroed in on one of the most pressing issues of our day: there aren’t enough black players in the World Series. Walker doesn’t have the slightest shred of evidence to support the contention that this is because of racism, but that’s nonetheless the thrust of his article, and it’s no surprise: it wouldn’t be a day ending with a y if the establishment media didn’t find some “racism” in the United States. Where none exists, it has to be invented.
Walker made a stark comparison that actually seemed to reveal some racism until you think about it for half a second: “Looking around Memorial Stadium before Game 1 of the 1983 World Series, Philadelphia Phillies star Gary Matthews saw a lot of Black talent. Joe Morgan. Eddie Murray. Garry Maddox. Ken Singleton. Al Bumbry. Disco Dan Ford. And plenty more that night in Baltimore.” But now, “for the first time since 1950, shortly after Jackie Robinson broke the Major League Baseball color barrier, there project to be no U.S.-born Black players in this World Series. Zero.”
Gee, that’s terrible. And it’s clearly a sign that “systemic racism” is nowhere more systemic than in Major League Baseball, which clearly, despite turning Jackie Robinson into a demigod and obsessively courting black players, behind closed doors is a regular Klan meeting. There are all sorts of contemporary equivalents of Gary Matthews, Joe Morgan, Eddie Murray, Garry Maddox, Ken Singleton, Al Bumbry, and Disco Dan Ford out there, but they’re not being given a shot at the big leagues, because MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and the owners of the Major League Baseball teams are a pack of white supremacists, right?
Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, apparently thinks that: there are all sorts of great black players out there who just aren’t being given a fighting chance: “That is eye opening,” Kendrick said. “It is somewhat startling that two cities that have high African American populations, there’s not a single Black player. It lets us know there’s obviously a lot of work to be done to create opportunities for Black kids to pursue their dream at the highest level.”
But really, are there a lot of young black men who dream of playing Major League Baseball but don’t have any chance to try? That’s unlikely in the extreme. The relentless idolizing of Robinson, who was a Hall of Fame player but not really a god at all, is just one of many indications that Major League Baseball would be positively thrilled to showcase a new generation of black stars. The problem, however, is not that there are deserving black players who are being denied a chance to play baseball; the problem is that black Americans just aren’t playing baseball the way they used to.
Back when Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, baseball was still by far the dominant sport in America. In the days of segregation, there was enough interest in baseball among black Americans to keep several black-only leagues going, and when Robinson broke the color barrier, there was a large number of great black players ready to shine in the major leagues. But since then, football and basketball have rivaled and in many ways eclipsed baseball, and it doesn’t take deep familiarity with the popular culture to see that there just isn’t an interest in baseball among young black Americans, and young Americans in general, that there used to be. This isn’t because of racism. It’s because there is, for a variety of reasons, more interest in other sports. In exactly the same way, the National Basketball Association is filled with black players; there are few white Americans competing at that level and less interest in basketball among young whites. Racism? Of course not. Some people are simply interested in some things that don’t interest others.
But Ben Walker and AP don’t write stories about an alarming dearth of whites in the NBA, because the only racism that fits the establishment media narrative is anti-black racism, and even though the rosters of the Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies have nothing whatsoever to do with racism, Walker saw his chance to further the idea that we are worse off today in terms of racism than we were in the bad old days of Orval Faubus and Theodore Bilbo. This is how AP and its colleagues sow society-wide resentment and division, and why they deserve the disgust and contempt of all rational and fair-minded people.
Yes, a 19 year playing career followed by a managerial career of 29 years, a few short breaks between teams since managers seek new jobs rather than being traded. And he’s implying racism?
Then there is the NBA.
It tends to allow lots of long rap sheets in the league.
Why not more non-criminals?
Nope. And lots of those Hispanics are black, at least by the one drop rule favored by the left.
I’m sick of the media and the woke left defining everything in society by race and sex. All it does is divide people, which apparently is what they want.
Baseball and soccer dominates Latin America and the Caribbean.
Pedro and Big Poppy are national heros in the Dominican Republic. EVERY kid plays from a very young age.
The real problem is there are not enough Black NHL players.
What’s basketball?
Baseball is a sport passed from father to son, so it’s not hard to figure out why there are fewer American Blacks playing today.
So thank LBJ,
They will see that there are plenty of blacks playing in the World Series.
Last Winter Olympics the left bitched about the lack of blacks in the sport of ... wait for it ... curling!
The stupid - it hurts ... discussing anything with a lefty is likened to playing chess with a pigeon ... you know the rest.
I coached Little League for about 10 years in the eighties in Austin. I don’t remember EVER seeing a black kid on any Little League team and we played teams all over Central Texas. One requirement of Little League, or any youth sport, is a parent or guardian to bring their kid to the ballpark.....AND, including practices, that means nearly every day in season.
“...there aren’t enough black players in the World Series. “
And, there are a disproportionately high number of blacks in the NBA.
And that’s racist.
“Per a quick google search baseball players are, White 57.5%
Hispanic 31.9%
Black 7.7%
Asian/Other 2.9%.”
I don’t watch MLB anymore but from what I used to see, there’s a lot of those 31.9% who I would call black.
It’s the bats. Bats were (and probably still are) being used to beat up blacks. /s
Benny, at least be consistent with your vile "reasoning".
From the census info, whites including Hispanic whites, 75.8%, not including them 59.1%. My guess black Hispanics are around 16%, considering them black overweight’s blacks at around 23-24% vs 13.6% in the general population.
Considered? They are black. Both these World Series teams have a lot of black players not from the US.
They’re talking American blacks as the decreased group.
Percent of American white players in MLB has dropped a lot too, but not as much as the percent of American blacks.
Black people don’t like baseball. White people don’t like baseball. If we could only get the Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans on board we will have united the nation.
Until this crap stops about racism in sports we’ll never watch another Football or Baseball game again......the minute Krappyneck took that knee and others followed suit, then that Commissioner (whose name escapes me at the moment and shows that I don’t care) then the owners started groveling we said ENOUGH! We grew up in Houston and remember the good old days before this woke crap started and haven’t watched an Astros game since....not even now.
From the shots of the crowds in the games, it appears that the fans are not very diverse. Maybe the next issue will be demanding that 13% of the seats at the World Series games be set aside for African Americans (born in the USA only).
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