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USA Today/ ­- News, Seg, 16 de Abril de 2012
CLIPPING INTERNACIONAL (Civil Rights)
Black baseball players declining
ST. LOUIS â 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 â 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 game's top
African­-American stars, 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're 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." Stewart says MLB should be embarrassed
by its recent run of managerial hires. He wonders why
white managers can be continually recycled, with
several recently out of the game, and still be hired
ahead of any African­-American candidates. "What did
Jerry Manuel do to not get another opportunity to
manage?" Stewart said of the former Mets manager.
"He didn't get one interview after he was hired from the
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