Here is an article about the opening of MLB's first Urban Youth Academy which is aimed at increasing interest in baseball among inner city youths. The Astros are one of three primary sponsors of the Academy even though it is in California. It appears they are doing more than "standing on the fringe". http://www.boston.com/sports/baseba...ll_academy/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Red+Sox+News
The reason for the situation in MLB is that they simply stopped promoting baseball in the inner cities in this country. There's no emphasis at the school and club level anymore and baseball has become like golf - an expensive sport to play which puts it out of the reach for many young African-American athletes. I also feel that the primary reason the Astros don't have many minority players in their organization because they simply have been doing a poor job of scouting and signing Latin American player prospects.
At the start of the 2006 season the Astros had the following "non-whites" on the 25 man roster: Astacio Rodriguez Taveras Wilson Nieve Palmeiro During the season they got rid of Munson and brought up Quintero to catch. That's a far cry from the "1 or 2" that Storm Surge mentioned and you agreed with.
moving away from the color issue...what good is jason lane? Why do we insist on keeping this guy? He doesn't produce and his "potential" never existed.
I've always been of the Opinion that Roy and Lance are at least 1/64th Black, 2/79ths Hispanic, and 11/362nd Asian. McLane is far from racist.
YES!! Not one Asian player on the roster!! Who cares if they don't have many black or hispanic or whatever players. As long as they win I know I don't
Actually that article only highlights what I said earlier. The fact that the Astros were the first team in MLB history since the 1953 Yankees to not have a single black player on their roster might have something to do with them co-sponsoring this academy. I also doubt that Drayton McClane made a call to Bud Selig with checkbook in hand to see how much he could donate to the facility. This was more of an initiative by the commish and Joe Morgan to bring the issue up. It is sad enough that you have to hear about something like this from the Boston newspapers. Either way the Astros are still on the outside looking in. Maybe that whole World Series fact was why they signed Preston Wilson....
Latin GM building roster of mostly Latin American players = Pride White GM/Owner building roster of mostly white players = Racist
So the FACT that the Astros are sponsoring this academy leads you to speculate why they are doing so and how they are doing it. Why can't you simply be appreciative of the FACT that they are doing something? You do realize that at the start of the 2006 season, of the approximately 1200 players on the 40 man rosters of all teams, less than 80 were black? This is a league wide issue, not an Astros-only issue. Considering they are one of THREE teams sponsoring this academy, why are THEY on the outside looking in?
I don't think anyone can know if Drayton is racist, but his actions as owner would suggest he is not.
there's a difference between saying something and then actually following through on it. Minaya may say something like that but the Mets roster is still diverse. Him actually doing so would be unacceptable, but the fact that he makes such a statement is blind PRIDE from the FIRST latin GM in baseball HISTORY who so happens to be from QUEENS. On face it's racist but taken out of context
Dude, if you want to see racism, go to Rwanda or to Serbia (for only two examples). You're b****ing about a GAME. You've been given true, factual evidences of the nature of what's going on in our culture, yet you still play this race card--about a damn game. Have you ever seen *TRUE* racism? Because I have. What a stupid piece of crap small minded way to think.
IMO people just need to realize that almost all people are racist. People naturally want to work with people they get along best with. Latin people tend to get along better with latin, white people tend to get along better with white, and black people tend to get along better with black, etc. etc. Is it any coincidence that most latin players tend to sit together on the bench? Same can be said about black and white players. If Drayton McClain was actively trying to build a roster of all white players then I will call him a racist. Otherwise he's just like any other person in this world.
I'm speculative b/c I want to see the owner of the Astros pushing the initiative not Joe Morgan. The owners whether you want to acknowledge it or not have a responsibility to address this issue and it can be on an individual basis. I won't deny that Houston isn't the only team with this problem, but I just feel the Astros organization can do more HERE. Houston RBI has been around for years and still has one person running it out of a city rec. office. These types of programs have been around but the support hasn't. I also don't think the Astros should be pushing this alone here in Houston, but I think it is a shame that we live in the fourth largest city and there's minimal support for the programs here.
That's not racism. People gravitate to commonalities. You find that in neighborhoods and school cafeterias as well. That's innocent. Racism is something far worse. The owners, whether you want to acknowledge it or not, do not have any such responsibility. Welcome to the Free Enterprise System, baby. Equal Opportunity does NOT equate with begging a disinterested segment of society to suddenly flock back to America's former pastime.
You are talking about ONE program that you happen to be apart of. Great. Good for you. I hope you help people and get a warm and fuzzy but just because the Astros don't spend every penny of profit that they generate into helping kids in the ghetto doesn't make them racists. There have been MANY minorities on the Astros. MANY. Just because all or half of them aren't black or come from the inner city or your RBI crap doesn't mean that they only love white people. This discussion is absolutely insane. Some people need a real problem in life because whining about this **** that doesn't even matter is beyond stupid.
