Are JD and DeWayne Lonelier Than Jackie Robinson?

For 61 years, ever since Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball's color barrier and won the National League's Rookie of the Year Award in the same season, African-American players have starred in the majors. For instance, the past two National League Most Valuable Players, Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard, will try to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to the World Series this month.

In the past decade, though, dozens of articles have lamented the declining proportion of black players, from 27% of all major leaguers in the mid-1970s to 8.2% last season, even as the percentage of Americans who are of African descent has inched up in recent decades.

For all its currency, that decline appears to be way off. In recent years, two baseball researchers, working independently, have found that blacks probably never made up more than 20% of major leaguers.

over 3 years ago winningugly 8 comments 1 recs |

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You are all racists

for not commenting on this article.

All of SSS flagged.

I think i did this wrong. Oh well…..delete my votes as they all suck anyway.
Kenwo4life=ratings
by KenWo4LiFe on Oct 10, 2008 2:02 AM EDT

by winningugly on Oct 11, 2008 8:54 PM CDT reply actions

flagged

The greatest trick the White Sox ever pulled was convincing their fan base that "Ozzieball" ever existed.

by The Wizard on Oct 11, 2008 9:22 PM CDT up reply actions

Flagged for thinking you "get it"

Only a true racist would post this, racist.

"I’m gonna rise up, gonna kick a little ass. Gonna kick some ass in the USA. Gonna climb a mountain, gonna sew a flag, gonna fly on an eagle. I’m gonna kick some butt, gonna drive a big truck. I’m gonna rule this world. I’m gonna kick some ass. I’m gonna rise up, gonna kick a little ass. Rock, flag, and eagle!"

by Ozzie Montana on Oct 12, 2008 12:09 AM CDT up reply actions

For a mellow guy, OM,

you sure get defensive. A lot.

And I do “get it”, even if you don’t “get” my jist.

I think i did this wrong. Oh well…..delete my votes as they all suck anyway.
Kenwo4life=ratings
by KenWo4LiFe on Oct 10, 2008 2:02 AM EDT

by winningugly on Oct 12, 2008 5:57 PM CDT up reply actions

I'm kinda sick of all this lamenting of African American decline in baseball

I’m about as PC and as liberal as it gets in this country but enough is enough. Kids play the games professionaly that they play growing up on the playground or court. In the case of black kids it’s almost always basketball or football.

Now more latin kids are playing baseball in teh sandlot and street instead of soccer.

There is nothing to lament here, just changing attitudes and fashions about which sports are hip and cool among the youth.

by madvillian on Oct 13, 2008 5:31 PM CDT reply actions

Yes. YES. Thank you.

Many white kids think baseball is too slow (and, frankly, too hard) to play. So the eff what? Black kids want to emulate stars they can relate to – football, basketball, Tiger Woods. Big effin’ deal.

The point is – it’s always been that way.

I think i did this wrong. Oh well…..delete my votes as they all suck anyway.
Kenwo4life=ratings
by KenWo4LiFe on Oct 10, 2008 2:02 AM EDT

by winningugly on Oct 13, 2008 6:10 PM CDT up reply actions

I'm too young to know

But were guys like Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Reggie Jackson, Dwight Gooden big celebrities in their prime the way Kobe or LeBron, or even a LaDanian Tomlinson are now? It seems that no matter how dominant a black baseball player is, he is always overshadowed by a NBA/NFL player, and I wonder if that’s a current trend (like the past decade) or if that’s always been the case.

by Ozzie Montana on Oct 14, 2008 1:25 AM CDT reply actions

Willie sure was. I grew up in Chicago

and he was, and still is, my sports hero. He was huge. It also helped that he was in NY until the move to SF. Reggie? Again, NY catapulted him (though he was big in OAK, too – hitting 3 HR’s on 3 pitches in 3 successive at-bats in the Series in NY will, however, take you to a new level, and his self-promotional abilities rivaled Ali). Celebrity is celebrity, though back then, baseball was still THE game, the national pastime, and the Super Bowl was a novelty. Baseball players, black, white, or Hispanic, had less competition for the airwaves/print media.

I think i did this wrong. Oh well…..delete my votes as they all suck anyway.
Kenwo4life=ratings
by KenWo4LiFe on Oct 10, 2008 2:02 AM EDT

by winningugly on Oct 14, 2008 7:21 AM CDT up reply actions