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No Black Astros (how is this an issue?)

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I'm going to agree with JLB here. While I don't think the writer of the story conveyed this well, I believe the actual story is that there are not very many young blacks interested in playing baseball anymore. I've seen several similar stories over the last few years, and none of them tried to spin it quite the way this writer did. MLB has many major city efforts to try to reverse this trend, but it doesn't seem to be working.
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I still don't see the fundamental issue. Why is it a problem that more blacks aren't playing baseball? The population of the US is roughly 12% black. Blacks comprise about 9% of baseball players? The percentage of blacks in basketball and football is much higher than 12%. Doesn't this by definition mean there is a problem with the low number of whites in these sports? And what about hispanics? They are all over the diamond but now many are in the NFL?

Is it a lesser problem that there are not more black Software Engineers or stockbrokers? I just don't get the special relatinoship between blacks and baseball that makes this a problem. Why should anyone 'feel badly' or need to 'itensify' their efforts?
 
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Oh8ch said:
I just don't get the special relatinoship between blacks and baseball that makes this a problem. Why should anyone 'feel badly' or need to 'itensify' their efforts?
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I think Joe Morgan sees it as a problem, as he was a black baseball player. It's really a problem with baseball in general, not a racial issue. It's not as though blacks are excluded from playing, just that evidently they're not interested.
 
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Golferdow01 said:
Perhaps, but it's something that can't be overlooked and undeniably true
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I don't know about the mexicans but you're right on with the white kids. My 8 year old has been out playing sometype of baseball literally every day since March. The problem is, I'm the one out there with him every day (not the problem) because all his friends like to stay inside and play PSII or X-Box.
 
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Golferdow01 said:
And how many do you see in hockey and do you hear shit like this? No. I guess maybe you coud say the converse that there are increasingly more Mexicans/Cubans etc... in baseball and that's a problem. Stupid!
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Except there aren't very many Cubans or Mexicans in MLB.
:)

For 2004 (or Spring Training 2005)I think there are 9 (or so) Cubans-- down from 11 -2002. And 20ish Mexicans, up from 16 in 2002... and I think most of that increas was the Gil Brothers.

Now... Dominicans and Venzuelans... now there are a shit ton of them.
 
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jlb1705 said:
This isn't a statement against the Astros, it's a statement about the fact the fewer and fewer young black men are playing baseball. They're playing basketball and football instead.
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Or, believe it or not soccer.

Anyway, I remain appalled at the poor representation of followers of The House of David in modern day baseball.

HOD_1916.jpg
 
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Oh8ch said:
I still don't see the fundamental issue. Why is it a problem that more blacks aren't playing baseball? The population of the US is roughly 12% black. Blacks comprise about 9% of baseball players? The percentage of blacks in basketball and football is much higher than 12%. Doesn't this by definition mean there is a problem with the low number of whites in these sports? And what about hispanics? They are all over the diamond but now many are in the NFL?

Is it a lesser problem that there are not more black Software Engineers or stockbrokers? I just don't get the special relatinoship between blacks and baseball that makes this a problem. Why should anyone 'feel badly' or need to 'itensify' their efforts?
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I don't see the issue either. If this were an issue of not enough whites in baseball do you think MLB would be starting a "rural initiative"? I can almost see them casing the tobacco fields and dairy farms. Or maybe not! The real problem that MLB has is that there is no Lebron James or Michael Vick in MLB. Therefore, not enough young blacks give enough of a shit about baseball to buy any of their apparrel. It's more of a sales and marketing problem for them than anything else.
 
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AJHawkfan said:
Anyway, Morgan claims taht there are "2 or 3 teams without a black player." Which teams would they be? Anyone know? Not really important, I'm just curious is all.

By the way, are there any NBA teams that have zero white guys on? If there is, is anyone complaining about them? (I follow the NBA less than I follow MLB, so I don't have a clue.)
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I did a very quick and dirty switch through CBSSportsline, and only came up with the Red Sox not having an African-American (at least how Morgan is defining it) on the roster.

Detroit has no white Americans on their roster, and their one Euro guy is named Darko . Washington has no white players.

I'm not as up on NBA players as MLB, but New Jersey and Denver may end up cutting theirs by the time the regular season starts.
 
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Brutus1 said:
I don't know about the mexicans but you're right on with the white kids. My 8 year old has been out playing sometype of baseball literally every day since March. The problem is, I'm the one out there with him every day (not the problem) because all his friends like to stay inside and play PSII or X-Box.
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Good for you. My dad and I always played ball together when I was growing up, but I also had a court full of kids who would play sports too. We had video games, but we still preferred to do the real thing. I still prefer it that way to this day

AKAKBUCK said:
Except there aren't very many Cubans or Mexicans in MLB.
:)

For 2004 (or Spring Training 2005)I think there are 9 (or so) Cubans-- down from 11 -2002. And 20ish Mexicans, up from 16 in 2002... and I think most of that increas was the Gil Brothers.

Now... Dominicans and Venzuelans... now there are a shit ton of them.
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Thank you KBuck...I guess my generalizations were bound to stab me in the back eventually :)
 
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Golferdow01 said:
Thank you KBuck...I guess my generalizations were bound to stab me in the back eventually :)
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Look bro, I'm just trying to help you out.. I mean, I saw a guy call a Puerto Rican guy a Beaner once, and the dude's all, "I should kick your ass, Spic will do just fine, now get it fucking right next time."

Nasty scene.
 
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