How come Blacks do not want to pursue careers in professional baseball anymore?
Question:Does anyone care that Jackie Robinson paved the way for African Americans to play such a sport? I mean after all there is alot of money to be made in the MLB and it is just sitting there waiting for the African American to take advantage of that opportunity.
Answers:
Give me 3 players that you think will go yard tonight? 10pts to the closest trio?
I think plenty of them are trying to persue the career in baseball, but the white americans just arent willing to let them take over another one of their sports. They have basketball, they have football, hockey is a canadian sport, all the white americans have is baseball and now that is being taken over by japs and carribean players. so its not that they arent trying, its just that others are trying harder.Why are the Mets are better than the Yankees.?
Because barry bonds gave them a bad name.Has there ever been a national league pitcher that batted in another spot besides 9th in the lineup?
Because generally, it isn't considered as "cool" in that community. They prefer more contact and physical sports like football and basketball.Who thinks that Fernando Rodney sucks? because i do?
Baseball isn't exciting its the chess of sports. Its harder to find kids to get a game of baseball and its also more expensive to play; cleets, glove, bat, batting gloves, etc... I love the game myself and will pass it on to my kids also.Top 5 Baseball movies ever made and bottom 5?
To be honest, baseball is not the sport being played where most African American boys live. They live mostly in the inner cities. It's harder to find a baseball field over a basketball court.It's the same thing with other sports where its harder for African Americans to get involved because of the opportunities like swimming, hockey, and soccer. How many black super stars are in those sports? None. If you look at the way most men get into the NBA or NFL its right out of college or while they are in college. To those men, it might seem easier to get into basketball and football because its just closer to the community.
To be honest, I am black and most people looked at me funny when I told them how much I love baseball and how much I go to the White Sox games. They think its boring and not as action packed as football or basketball. Which is another reason African Americans are not in baseball.
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I heard Bud Selig talking about this question about a week ago. His answer was that there were about 20% african americans in the major leagues back in the 70's, but now, that number is only 8%. He attributed that to the marketing of other major sports like football and basketball. Those sports drew atheletes away from baseball. In addition, there needs to be a strong community support for the game in black communities to maintain baseball fields. As property values increase, there are less baseball fields being built, and many of them are being converted into soccer fields. So, since there isn't a local place to play, and since there is often a local basketball hoop, many kids are turning to basketball.The support for the sport in the hispanic countries is growing each year. Baseball players are treated like heroes in many communities in Puerto Rico, Mexico, and the Domincan Republic. Because of that, many hispanics are getting early training and support in pursuing a baseball career. More hispanics actually make it to the major leagues because of this, and it leaves less position for people of other nationalities. MLB goes for the best players, and they just happen to be coming from the hispanic countries at this point in time.
Nonetheless, there are a substantial number of blacks who are trying to make it in baseball. MLB needs to emphasis how much fun it is to play baseball and show kids the advantages to playing baseball over basketball and football. I was never big enough to play much basketball or football, but I could always play baseball. All kids need to realize that there are opportunities in baseball that they wouldn't have in other sports.
Jackie Robinson was a great man and did a lot for blacks and for the game. Do people still care about it? I'm sure that Barry Bonds, Dontrell Willis, and Alfonso Soriano are happy to be playing right now, and I'm happy that I'm able to see them.
They wan't to play basketball.
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The arguement that I've heard recently is that baseball isn't as exciting as basketball or football, and therefore is unable to attract young African American males.I think that logic is a crock of bull.
I think the problem is almost strictly financial.
Having grown up in a lower-middle class family, in a predominantly black, lower-middle class neighborhood, I can tell you first hand... there isn't a huge availability of the sport.
Baseball is a much more expensive sport to play than say... basketball. The uniform costs more. Bats and gloves and balls, and a well-maintained field to play on... not to mention the fact that you need at least 18 guys to field 2 teams and play a real game.
It's a hard sport to organize and play in the inner city. And a vast majority of the African Americans in this country are found in the big cities, in urban areas, in lower-middle class neighborhoods like the one I grew up in.
And their parents can't afford $150 for a uniform, $100 for a bat, $50 for a glove, $50 for cleats, $20 for an athletic supporter, plus the league fees and dues. My parents barely afforded it, and the only reason they did, was because I had such a love for the game that my dad and grandfather played so well. I wanted to follow in their footsteps.
Not to mention the fact that... well... the fields we played on were poor quality to put it nicely.
Because they think it is a boring sport. There is no physical contact and baseball is not popular at all among black high school kids. It seems they prefer sports with more action like football and baseball.
It should also be noted that what Robinson did also paved the way for Latin players as well. He brought equality to the game not just for blacks but for every other race as well. He also wanted more black managers and there are more and more black managers every couple of years. So we see the effect of Jackie Robinson everyday baseball is played.
Also in response to the financial cost of it, football is way more expensive than both baseball and basketball. If a school can afford all the equipment and facilities needed for football than nobody should have any problem affording to pay for baseball. And you also need 53 guys for a football team so there should really be no mention of money or the amount needed to field a team.
There's more money and it's easier to get into the top level in the NBA and NFL. It's almost impossible to walk straight on to a MLB team roster.
Not enough little laegue baseball fields in the innercity and big cities.
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