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#1
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I love that they do Jackie Robinson day and have all the players wear number 42. However it always really annoys me how the focus every Jackie Robinson day is on "Why aren't there as many African Americans that there used to be in the league?" and then the announcers harp on it for the next 45 minutes. Why not keep the focus on the great talent that IS in the game? Especially with the emergence of some great young African Americans in the game like Ryan Howard, Jason Heyward, Adam Jones and Andrew McCutchen.
Last edited by packs; 04-17-2010 at 02:42 PM. |
#2
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Baseball has a very large minority population, it's just it includes Hispanics and Asians. The percentage of American blacks amongst Americans MLB players is larger than the percentage of blacks in the US population (Obviously, the Venezuelan, Mexican, Japanese etc population in MLB will by definition have and always have 0% black Americans, so it's silly to use them in the race-national percentage calculation. Of course it would be silly to say "How come there are no African-American players amongst the Japanese population?!?" but this is what some critics in essence are doing. MLB has a much much larger percentage of foreigners than the NBA, so it's impossible for the MLB to have a larger percentage of black Americans amongst the total playing population. Comparing the number of black Americans to the total playing population in the MLB versus NBA is thus comparing comparing apples to oranges.)
What bugs me when they compare blacks in MLB versus NBA is they never say "Why are there so few Hispanics in NBA? Is this lack of Hispanics a sign of race problems in the NBA?" The total population in a sport can be no higher than 100%. If there are 50% Hispanic in the MLB (made up number), it's impossible to have 75 percent black like the the NBA. And I am assuming none of these critics are suggesting the MLB should be purged of Hispanics or that there be a quota on how many Hispanics or Asians be allowed to play baseball. Last edited by drc; 04-17-2010 at 03:58 PM. |
#3
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Caribbean culture also muddies the water when it comes to percentages. A sizeable portion of Caribbean born players are of African decent, but because of the vast differences in culture between say a Domincan player and an African American player, they are always apart.
Last edited by packs; 04-17-2010 at 04:45 PM. |
#4
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As you touched on, African American is not defined just by race-- as indicated by the word 'American' in the term.
Last edited by drc; 04-17-2010 at 06:08 PM. |
#5
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I'm hoping programs like RBI and role models like Curtis Granderson will continue to garner interest in baseball from African American youths. I only mentioned the Carribean players to recognize that they're such a huge part of baseball today because of Jackie and players like him.
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#6
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any island that has fresh water, had sugar grown on it, and you know where they got the workers for them... (only st barts lacks indigenous people from africa -it has no fresh water) the difference is language and culture, thus the Latino and african american designations, but no doubt the share the same relatives dating back to 1600's.... |
#7
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I could not agree more. People like Larry Doby, and the others who played right around the time of Jackie Robinson endured Racial Hardships as well but get ZERO recognition for it. They should just rename Jackie Robinson Day "Baseball Civil Rights Day" and allow the players or teams to pick the Black/Latin Pioneers they want to recognize and honor. The Pirates could wear Clemente's number and honor him IF they want to etc. It is great that we honor Jackie but sad that todays fans have such a narrow view of Baseball History as a result.
Rhys |
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