JD, only Afr. Amer. player on the Sox

[LosMediasBlancas]

I hadn't thought about it, but since we got rid of Jurrasic Carl and Willie, JD is the only black player on the Sox roster.

 

http://www.suntimes.com/output/baseball/cst-spt-race23.html

[Phuck the Cubs]

The article makes no mention of the Hispanic players, Asian players or white players, which is part of why the black player totals are down. In the NBA and NFL there are many more black players than white, Hispanic and Asian players

[Gregory Pratt]

I think it's silly to worry over it.

[YASNY]

There has been a steady decline in the number of AA players for some time now. To sum it up in very general terms, they aren't playing baseball as kids. MLB has been trying to address the situation, but it's going to take some time to show results.

[mr_genius]

I think it's silly to worry over it.

 

^^^

[whitesoxfan101]

There has been a steady decline in the number of AA players for some time now.  To sum it up in very general terms, they aren't playing baseball as kids.  MLB has been trying to address the situation, but it's going to take some time to show results.

 

Correct. Obviously it's a silly comparision, but MLB is working on getting AA kids to play ball kind of like the Sox are working on kids period to get them to be Sox fans with things like Fundementals. You may not see the results now, but a decade from now and 2 decades from now you will.

[Rowand44]

Correct.  Obviously it's a silly comparision, but MLB is working on getting AA kids to play ball kind of like the Sox are working on kids period to get them to be Sox fans with things like Fundementals.  You may not see the results now, but a decade from now and 2 decades from now you will.

It's still going to be hard to get African Americans to play baseball imo. I also agree that it's silly to worry about.

[Gregory Pratt]

It's still going to be hard to get African Americans to play baseball imo.  I also agree that it's silly to worry about.

 

[SoxAce]

It's still going to be hard to get African Americans to play baseball imo.  I also agree that it's silly to worry about.

 

Maybe I should have continued playing. Probably would have gotten drafted and represented fo my brothas! But then again... I would have been like Jeter, Tiger Woods, etc.. just a mixed breed.. (not 100% nothin)

[hammerhead johnson]

See, we should have brought Frank back.

 

Is K-Dub an uncle tom?

[whitesoxfan101]

It's still going to be hard to get African Americans to play baseball imo.  I also agree that it's silly to worry about.

 

Yep I'm not worried about it, and I agree it won't be easy to get a lot of african americans to play baseball. Among african americans, basketball is so far and away the #1 sport right now that I doubt it can be caught, however the number of african americans in baseball should be higher, but it's not a huge concern. Although, there are quite a few up and coming players now who are african american (Willis, Howard, Crawford, Weeks, Fielder, Crisp, Sabathia when healthy, maybe Brandon Phillips now , Alex Rios finally?, Granderson and Gathright?) but numbers are down.

[WilliamTell]

I'm not too worried about this either. If they don't want to play baseball and would rather play football or basketball, let them play it.

[hammerhead johnson]

Although, there are quite a few up and coming players now who are african american (Willis, Howard, Crawford, Weeks, Fielder, Crisp, Sabathia when healthy, maybe Brandon Phillips now , Alex Rios finally?, Granderson and Gathright?) but numbers are down.

 

Uh, you forgot Josh Barfield.

 

That crop of up-and-coming players is crap IMO, even with Upton or whomever. There are some superstars and potential superstars to be found in that group, obviously, but if a knowledgeable baseball fan can only name like a dozen guys under the age of 27, then you have to admit that the situation is pretty f***ed up.

[whitesoxfan101]

Uh, you forgot Josh Barfield.  

 

That crop of up-and-coming players is crap IMO, even with Upton or whomever.  There are some superstars and potential superstars to be found in that group, obviously, but if a knowledgeable baseball fan can only name like a dozen guys under the age of 27, then you have to admit that the situation is pretty f***ed up.

 

Haha Barfield is Dominican or something I think? And your right, that's all I could name off the top of my head so it really points out it's a problem.

[Kalapse]

Josh Barfield is Venezuelan.

[Texsox]

It's all about space to play and dollars in the big leagues. B-ball is king in most city neighborhoods where open space is limited. Football still attracts HS athletes because of the social cache of being on "the team". Baseball has been overlooked for a long time. How many black Hawks are there?

[CSF]

Josh Barfield is Venezuelan.

 

Acutally, he's Venezuelan & American. I read an article saying he was born there while his father was playing winter ball, and was only there a couple of weeks. He grew up in Texas.

[LosMediasBlancas]

I used to think it had to do with economics. You need very little equipment to shoot hoops and lots of equipment and rink time to play hockey. That doesn't explain why so many African American kids play football and not baseball though. I'm not sure why the numbers have fallen off the way they have in baseball.

[Rowand44]

Uh, you forgot Josh Barfield.  

 

That crop of up-and-coming players is crap IMO, even with Upton or whomever.  There are some superstars and potential superstars to be found in that group, obviously, but if a knowledgeable baseball fan can only name like a dozen guys under the age of 27, then you have to admit that the situation is pretty f***ed up.

Why is it f***ed up? There are hardly any white american players in the nba and nobody seems to complain about that.

[southsider2k5]

I used to think it had to do with economics.  You need very little equipment to shoot hoops and lots of equipment and rink time to play hockey.  That doesn't explain why so many African American kids play football and not baseball though.  I'm not sure why the numbers have fallen off the way they have in baseball.

 

The numbers of kids playing baseball period have fallen off big time. Much of it is for the reasons you listed already. it takes a lot of people and money to play the sport, where as for basketball you need one ball and two kids. Its not just one race that has quit playing baseball, its all races in the United States.

[hammerhead johnson]

Why is it f***ed up?  There are hardly any white american players in the nba and nobody seems to complain about that.

 

That's pretty messed up as well, although white men (by and large) can't really run, jump, move laterally, etc.

 

Go back 10 years, and you have guys in their prime like Frank, Griffey, Bonds, Belle, Gwynn, Sheffield, Larkin, McGriff, Lofton, Mo Vaughn, etc. All of those players should/will be hall of famers with the exception of Kenny Lofton and Mo Vaughn. I suppose that McGriff is borderline.

 

Who are the potential hall of famers in the 27 to 33 age range in 2006? I can't think of anybody.

[hammerhead johnson]

Josh Barfield is hispanic? My bad.

[3E8]

Who are the potential hall of famers in the 27 to 33 age range in 2006?  I can't think of anybody.

Does Derek Jeter count?

[hammerhead johnson]

Does Derek Jeter count? 

 

Haha, nope.

[thedoctor]

really, to me the lack of aa baseball players is just representative of the fact that kids in general are not playing the game the way they did. there's many reasons for this, most of them brought up here.

 

i think one of the biggest reasons is baseball's a difficult game to play without a fair amount of kids. when i was growing up it was nothing to get eight-10 kids and play a game of whiffleball. i can't say that's the same today.

 

another factor is that baseball is an incredibly nuanced game. football, basketball and soccer are all based on similar "protect my territory" elements. baseball is completely different from that, and sometimes i wonder if kids have the attention span for it.

 

lastly, i think major league baseball has done a horrible job of marketing the sport to a younger age demographic. every time it seems they try to go that route, they come across like the creepy, out-of-touch old guy down the block who's always telling you to stay off his lawn. i think they are getting better, but in general they still run behind the curve.

 

i think if major league baseball wants to do a better job of marketing to kids, they ought to place a call to brooks boyer. the sox have done it the right way, imo.