What's the point of articles like this? FOX Sports - MLB - Only 8.4 percent of MLBers were black in '06
Like most articles, I think the point is probably to shock the reader and then provide 5 minutes of provocative fluff. Why not write it about hockey? Or lacrosse. Baseball seems pretty diverse to me, when you consider all the Asians and Latinos. I'm curious what % of MLB players were born in America. 50% maybe? Here are my guesses for the other sports: Football- 95% Hockey- 35% NBA- 65% PGA Tour- 66% (this one I looked up). Anyone have those stats at their finger tips?
Hockey would be around 10% American. The majority of professional hockey players are Canadian or European.
This is a bit outdated, it's for the 2000-2001 NHL season, but it's the best I could find. Canada - 53% US - 15% Czech. - 8.8% Russia - 7.7% Sweden - 5.6% I'm sure that the Canada # has gone down a bit, while the rest have gone up. There are quite a few Finnish players in the NHL as well, but the list wasn't exhaustive.
This is a really thorough study on NFL diveristy. Page 15 has the Player diversity as of 2005. http://www.ncasports.org/images/2005_NFL_RGRC.pdf Here is the NBA. Page 19 has players. http://www.ncasports.org/images/Final_NBA_2005_PR.pdf Ah heck, why don't I just post this link. It has all of the sports. National Consortium for Academics and Sports
Thanks for the links jammer....For the NBA, I am curious as to how and where the international players were categorized prior to 2003? Even last year the percentages for all players exceeded 100% so who was the actuary on this chart? (appendix I)
Does anyone know how many Japanese ballplayers are in the Dominican Rookie baseball league? I would guess none, but could someone verify that. P.S. The Tigers had a heck of team there last year.
The point of it is to show that African Americans are more likely to gravitate to fewer sports, such as football, track and basketball, rather than a wide variety of sports, as whites do. The point of it, and the larger picture of it, is African Americans have fewer perceived choices in this country because U.S. society has told them there are certain places they can go and certain places they can't. The influx of Hispanics in MLB can be compared to the influx of African Americans in the NBA. A lot of little African American kids and a lot of little Hispanic kids think they are going to make it to the pros when, in reality, few will make it. But instead of striving for other goals, like pursuing a non-sport career, many feel like their only shot is to pursue something in sports and in a narrow variety of sports at that. So, yes, that article has a point. It shows that African Americans don't really consider baseball to be as viable an option as other sports. Cross another sport off the list. It isn't good news at all.
Better article - 'Why the Tigers are better than the Yakees, and Boston' Now thats a good read. just sayin'
I have my own thoughts on this. Unfortunately, many times African American kids come from poorer families and that is why you are not going to find many of them playing hockey. The equipment and the ice time is prohibitively expensive. Up in Canada in many places ice time is free (when everything freezes) and makes it easier and more fun for kids to play hockey. Baseball equipment is quite a bit cheaper, but for some it is still a stretch. And there aren't as many playgrounds that have baseball fields. So while it is more popular in African American communities, it is not quite what basketball is. For basketball all you need is a ball. There are hoops all over the place. And the basketball is a lot more dynamic and kind of "show off" type of sports, so it attracts a lot more attention. Just my two cents worth. :behindsof
My least favorite team: The Yakee's My least favorite song: I'm a Yakee Doodle Dandy. My least favorite movie: Yakee Come Home
I would just like to add that I have been reading for some time that baseball has been on the decline with inner city kids because they don't have decent equipment to play with. You need bats, bases, helmets, etc. For basketball all you need is a ball and a hoop and for football all you need is a football. Also kids see the big dollars that basketball and football players make. You really have to have a love for the game of baseball to spend years in the minor leagues making next to nothing and riding buses versus riding the bench as the 12th man as a rookie on an NBA club collecting a couple of million bucks and traveling 1st class and staying in the best hotels.
One thing to add: A lot of cities are getting outta the parks-and-rec biz and leaving it to nonprofit sports organizations, which tend to be permeated with white privilege. Detroit has an organization called Think Detroit that provides sport opportunities for kids (including baseball) in the city but they're barely scratching the surface.
