[Yahoo]Changing diversity: Astros first Series team in half-century w/o black player

This article is ridiculous. Now, other than Jimerson and Gipson, we didn't have any african-americans, but we do have other black players. What about Willy Taveras, Jose Vizcaino, and Zeke Astacio? They are latinos who happen to be black are they not?

 

But i believe if they were classified ethnicity wise they would be considered Latinos and not African Americans.

 

Who the heck cares? If the majority of blacks don't like baseball, then it's their choice. It's not like they don't know baseball exists. It'd be a different thing if someone actively prevented blacks from playing baseball but that's not the case.

In other news, Asian participation in NHL still at an all time low...

 

Oh, frigging please. Always with the race card. That card should be banned. I would knock this guy out if I saw him right now.

 

What quote specifically has you so mad and why? Saying they played the race card implies that these people think there aren't as many African-Americans in the game because of racism. They never say that at all.

 

I don't think there is anything baseball can really do to increase the percentage of black athletes in MLB. The truth is that basketball is a much easier sport for kids to get into. You only need two people to play a game of hoops, plus anybody can just go out and shoot jumpers by himself and still improve his skills. Heck, interest in baseball among all kids is third behind basketball and football. How many pickup basketball games do you see these days compared to sandlot baseball games?

 

And no one complains about the lack of black players in Hockey. Baseball has a different dynamic. I don't care personally because I understand that black guys my age weren't really into baseball when we were young and that's mainly the cause.


But for older folks like my father who witnessed Jackie Robinson break into the majors and what the represented beyond baseball I understand why they care.

 

What does this have to do with me?

 

Plus you need roids to compete too.

 

i forgot something in that post.... rolleyes: )

 

This post is right on. I really hope the RBI Foundation succeeds in getting the greatest game back into the hands of our inner city kids.

 

I hate this... Why bring up racism up all the time... Hell Why is the damn NBA 80% + all Black where is the asian people in the NBA.. I'm mad why isnt there asian.. how about american indians... (j/k just being sarcastic) ... I'm going to make a racist statement though.. To me when I was growing up .. all the black kids wanted to play basketball and football. I think only 1 black kid wait two actually joined the baseball team.. so its a matter of preference.

 

no one brought up racism, only the idiots that didn't read the article.

 

Keannu Reeves was way ahead of his time. Taking on important roles like Hardball.

 

This is exactly the kind of garbage that gives liberals a bad name, using "diversity" to mean "my kind of diversity." Wake up! Diversity has gone global, including on the Astros. You can't use one group as an index of diversity anymore.

 

Astros diversity

Got wind of this on the way home yesterday while flipping threw radio station heard Lush Rimbaugh ranting about this comments by Joe Morgan .

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/baseball/2010AP_BBO_World_Series_Changing_Diversity.html

 

what this boils down to is a marketing issue and I'm sure if you read between the lines, the baseball people aside from coaches and players are worried about the bottom line. the lack of black players on the field represent the overall lack of interest in baseball among blacks and I'm sure baseball doesn't want to lose such a huge chunk of its fan base.

 

again that's not the point of the article. Its just about blacks and baseball. the article acknowledges that baseball is very diverse.

 

http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=103564

this is the same article as the yahoo article

 

Astros roster has no black players

By BEN WALKER
AP BASEBALL WRITER

HOUSTON -- Joe Morgan worries about the face of baseball. Watching the World Series, the Hall of Famer is troubled by what he sees.

His old team, the Houston Astros, is down 3-0 to the Chicago White Sox, but it's not their lineup that concerns Morgan. It's their makeup.

The Astros are the first World Series team in more than a half-century with a roster that doesn't include a single black player.

"Of course I noticed it. How could you not?" Morgan said while the Astros took batting practice before the opener in Chicago. "But they're not the only ones. There are two or three teams that didn't have any African-American players this year."

Morgan said it's a predicament and a challenge for Major League Baseball. While more players from around the world are making it to the majors - Japan, Korea, for example - the number of blacks is declining.

"It's a daunting task to get African-American kids into baseball, and I don't see the trend changing," he said.

The last World Series team without a black player was the 1953 New York Yankees. It wasn't until 1955 - eight years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947 - that Elston Howard became the first black in Yankee pinstripes.

Black players accounted for just about 9 percent of big league rosters this season.

"We know that we have to work to do," Commissioner Bud Selig said Tuesday. "We'll continue to intensify our efforts. I'm very aware, I'm extremely sensitive about it, and I feel badly about it. But we need to get to work to change things."

Astros general manager Tim Purpura agrees.

"I think it's a huge, huge problem for baseball," he said. "The pool of African-American players just isn't there. And as baseball becomes more college-oriented in its draft, there aren't a lot of players to pick.

"The African-American athletes are going into other sports," he said.

The most recent survey by the NCAA, taken during the 2003-04 season, showed that only 6 percent of Division I baseball players were black. Half of the men's basketball players were black, as were 44 percent of football players.

Houston has a half-dozen Hispanic players - it was the first team to open a baseball academy in Venezuela, about a dozen years ago. Bench coach Cecil Cooper is black.

Outfielders Charles Gipson and Charlton Jimerson, both black, played for the Astros during the regular season.

The White Sox have three black players on their Series roster: Jermaine Dye, Carl Everett and Willie Harris, along with coaches Tim Raines and Harold Baines.

They also have eight Hispanic players and Japanese second baseman Tadahito Iguchi.

"We're diverse because we're looking for the best in talent and character," general manager Ken Williams said before the Series started. "It just happened that way. I could care less what the makeup of the club is as long as it works as a whole."

Williams is the only black general manager in the majors. A former big league outfielder, he joined the White Sox in 1992 as a scout, confident he could find players in the inner cities. After a year of trying, Williams felt as if he'd failed.

Morgan is disturbed by what he's found, too.

A two-time NL MVP, Morgan helped Cincinnati win two straight championships. In 1976, along with fellow black teammates Ken Griffey, George Foster and Dan Driessen, the Big Red Machine swept a Yankees team that had 10 black players on its roster.

Just 10 years ago, Atlanta and Cleveland each had five black players when they met in the World Series.

In 2003, Derek Jeter and the Yankees lost to Florida. Jeter's father is black and his mother is white; the All-Star shortstop has said he considers himself both black and white.

"There's a perception among African-American kids that they're not welcome here, that baseball is not for inner-city kids," Morgan said. "It's not true, and I hate that the perception is out there."