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USA Today/ ­- News, Dom, 15 de Abril de 2012
CLIPPING INTERNACIONAL (Civil Rights)
Number of African-American baseball
players dips again
ST. LOUIS ??" Major League Baseball, celebrating
Jackie Robinson Day on Sunday, has the lowest
percentage of African­-American players since the
earliest days of the sport's integration, according to
research conducted by USA TODAY Sports. The
African­-American population in baseball this season
has plummeted to 8.05%, less than half the 17.25% in
1959 when the became the last team to integrate their
roster, 12 years after Robinson broke baseball's color
barrier with the . It's a dramatic decline from 1975,
when 27% of rosters were African­-American. In 1995,
the percentage was 19%. "Baseball likes to say things
are getting better," says former 20­-game winner and
front office executive Dave Stewart, now a player
agent. "It's not getting better. It's only getting worse.
We've been in a downward spiral for a long time, and
the numbers keep declining." Ten teams opened the
year with no more than one African American on their
roster, and 25% of African Americans in the game are
clustered on three teams ??" the New York Yankees,
Los Angeles Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers. A
dearth of collegiate scholarships, increasing cost of
funding teams in inner cities and, some say, a lack of
opportunities in major league front offices all have
contributed to the paucity of African­-American players.
The void has been filled beyond the USA's borders.
Foreign­-born players in 2012 made up 28.4% of
opening­-day rosters. While the game's overall diversity
has increased, the decrease in African­-American
players can seem stark in a sport where they once
were its marquee performers. From 1990 to 1995, nine
of the 12 American and National League MVP winners
were African American. In 2012, Chicago Cubs center
fielder Marlon Byrd is the lone African­-American major
leaguer in the city of Chicago. "I don't even know what
to say," said Byrd, who was also the only African
American on the field Sunday at Busch Stadium in St.
Louis during the 65th anniversary of Robinson
breaking the color barrier. "I remember when I came
up with the (Philadelphia) Phillies in 2002, we had six
(African­-American) players. I thought that was the
norm. Now, you look around and don't see anyone.
Will it change? I don't know. I'm hoping it's a different
story four or five years from now." The St. Louis
Cardinals, who once had some of the greatest
African­-American stars in the game, such as Hall of
Famers Bob Gibson, Lou Brock and Ozzie Smith,
haven't had an African­-American on their opening­-day
roster since infielder Joe Thurston in 2009. "It's
concerning," Cardinals general manager John
Mozeliak said. "I think the RBI program (Reviving
Baseball in Inner Cities) is helpful and growing. We're
all about talent. It doesn't matter if you're white, black,
brown or green." Major League Baseball officials,
aware of the dwindling numbers as many of the USA's
top athletes apparently opt for other sports, said it is
trying to reverse the trend with their urban academies
and annual Civil Rights exhibition game. "We trying to
get better. It won't happen overnight," Commissioner
Bud Selig said. "And we're very comfortable saying it
will be better. We are doing great work with our
baseball academies and working in the inner cities. It's
getting better." Robinson would want more While
baseball has the lowest percentage of
African­-American players since Dwight Eisenhower
was president, Major League Baseball's hiring
practices are lauded by Richard Lapchick, director of
the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the
University of Central Florida. MLB received an "A" for
race on Lapchick's Racial and Gender Report Card
last year. "I remember Jackie saying 10 days before he
passed (in 1972)," Selig said, "he wouldn't be satisfied
until we had a black manager and general manager. If
he went through all of our front offices today in
baseball, he'd be proud." Still, the Chicago White Sox's
Kenny Williams and the Miami Marlins' Michael Hill are
the lone African­-American general managers, and the
Cincinnati Reds' Dusty Baker and the Texas Rangers'
Ron Washington are the only African­-American
managers. There hasn't been an African American
hired as manager since Jerry Manuel was promoted in
2008 by the New York Mets, and there have been five
African­-American general managers in baseball
history. "I think Jackie would be very disappointed,"
said Ron Rabinovitz, whose friendship with Robinson
was the subject of an MLB Network documentary. "He
would want more than this." Stewart, who gave up
pursuing a general manager's job when clubs
repeatedly bypassed him, believes there never will be
improvement on the field unless MLB's hiring practices
change. "Bud keeps making the comment that things
will get better," Stewart said. " But Bud is not in
position to make it happen. Bud works for the owners.
He can't make them do something they don't want to
do. "And right now, they don't want to hire blacks as
decision­-makers. Certainly not GMs. You have a lot of
young executives who can do the job if they have the
opportunity. But all they get is an interview for window
dressing." Making baseball cool Baseball also
constantly fights the stigma of being a dull sport. Even
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