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MLB To Study Decline of Blacks In Game

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Boom_70, Apr 10, 2013.

  1. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    With MLB down to only 8.6 % blacks Bud Selig announces a committee to study the issue.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/10/sports/baseball/baseball-creates-committee-to-study-decline-of-blacks-in-the-majors.html?ref=sports&_r=0

    Baseball has invested a lot of money building academies in Latin America. Maybe they should do the same thing here in the States.
     
  2. doctorquant

    doctorquant Well-Known Member

    I read a Time magazine article about that and was taken aback by the idea that many/most of the Latino players aren't considered "African-Americans" ... seemed like a silly bit of accounting by me.
     
  3. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    But why would they be? It's not even how the US senses breaks things down.
     
  4. Have a worldwide draft would pretty much solve the problem -- or at least normalize the numbers. Most of the teams won't have incentive to dig around the Latin American countries if the cost to acquire a foreign player is closer to that of a U.S.-born player.

    Of course 8.6% isn't that bad a number, given that less than 75% of players are from the U.S. Blacks are only 12.8% of the U.S. population anyway, so 8.6% of 75% is actually similar to the population as a whole.
     
  5. cranberry

    cranberry Well-Known Member

    Nobody in baseball is the least concerned about attracting athletes from the Dominican or Venezuela. The industry has difficulty attracting African American (and other) athletes from lower and lower middle class backgrounds. Part of the reason is that the NCAA only allows 11.7 scholarships for 30 roster spots in baseball, so college isn't much of an option. Another part of the reason is that urban areas have been generally neglected by a baseball culture that deemed it unimportant for decades. I've always considered it a market inefficiency that would eventually be exploited but that doesn't seem to be happening.
     
  6. Here me roar

    Here me roar Guest

    There are basketball hoops and asphalt in every American city. Not too sure how many baseball fields you'd find in inner-city settings. I also wonder where the white players come from. Are they mostly small town/rural kids, predominately, or are there city kids who went to schools with more resources and more athletic facilities?
    I
     
  7. printit

    printit Member

    Agree with cranberry, but the reason no one is exploiting the inefficiency is because no individual team has a vested interest in doing so. If you develop a player in Latin America, you can sign him yourself. If you develop a player in America, every team can draft him. So, no team develops any young players. Baseball collectively needs to develop this talent, individual teams aren't going to do it.
     
  8. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    I get the sense that baseball's popularity has taken a colossal hit in this country over the last decade or so.
     
  9. cranberry

    cranberry Well-Known Member

    Right. Don't let the record revenue, attendance and viewership mislead you.
     
  10. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    A lot of money is spent to develop the talented white kids. They are attending baseball academies, taking private lessons and playing on national travel teams.

    Seems like a track that is now similar to hockey. Parents of American NHL players have made a huge investment in getting their kids to the big show.
     
  11. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Yeppers.

    My son is 10. It costs us $1,000 to play a season of club baseball. That's a pretty low price and we are a Double-A team that plays mostly local. I know of other teams -- the "majors" teams -- whose parents will spend well above $5,000.

    Again: That's for 10-year-olds.
     
  12. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    Whatever Major League Baseball is selling, young black athletes aren't buying.

    Denard Robinson, an incredible athlete, literally cannot throw a baseball
    http://deadspin.com/denard-robinsons-first-pitch-at-the-tigers-game-eventu-471825436


    John Wall, an incredible athlete, literally cannot throw a baseball
     
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