What about Black Latinos that are in the game? There are many Black Puertoricans, Black Dominicans and Black Cubans. Or is it because they eat their mama's rice and beans instead of collard greens, they don't count as "black?"

Just to name a few:

David Ortiz (DR)

Sammy Sosa (DR)

Jose Perez (Cuba)

Manny Ramirez (DR_

Pedro Martinez (DR)

Moises Alou (DR)

Bernie Williams (PR)

Ruben Sierra (PR)

Soriano (I think DR, can't remember his first name)

The Panamanian pitcher that plays for the Yankees

I mean there are quite a few black Latinos playing and getting PAID.

baseball was my brother's and my game until football (for him) and basketball took over at about age 10.

we loved baseball, but alas baseball passion fever has lost its patina.

so long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, good day…

again, with an hysterical headline Cord!

Baseball? Like most black people around the globe, it's football for me (aka "soccer" as the Americans say), or cricket.

It starts with little league… you have to pay fees… you need a field… you need equipment… These are alot of things missing from inner city life. And it's not like there's a school baseball team. A school football team, a school basketball team, yes. But not a whole lot of school baseball teams are in the inner cities.

It starts when they're little. They're not placed on the baseball "track."

Its likely because baseball has and continues to be marketed as "America's Pastime" It is structured in complete violation of anti-trust law, yet has been given an exemption, in fact permission to break the law. Because of its special status conferred by Congress, its not hard to imagine that an equal protection/equal access argument could be constructed should the numbers of Black Americans, who could likely come up with the standing to bring the claim, coud do so. It'd be far fetched but it could be enough to raise questions about the special status of baseball…which they are not giving up without a fight……because they would lose paper…..

If they are not playing baseball, then what are they doing?
Hopefully reading!

@*M*:
No… they're playing basketball and football at training camps, while college scouts evaluate and judge them like prized livestock.

(yeah… I know I sound bitter, but it's the truth).

Student athletes account for A LOT of the money generated by universities. They put the schools on the map. A good team = more applicants = more money.

Mama you forgot A Rod on that list.

If you add in all the "blatinos", there are plenty of blacks in baseball.

so really, this study is more of a national origin issue rather than a racial issue: why are less american blacks playing baseball?

Let's let crazy ass Gary Sheffield answer this question:

“What I called is that you’re going to see more black faces, but there ain’t no English going to be coming out. … (It’s about) being able to tell (Latin players) what to do — being able to control them,” he told the magazine. “Where I’m from, you can’t control us.”

In expanding on his comment about control, Sheffield said Tuesday, “They have more to lose than we do. You can send them back across the island. You can’t send us back. We’re already here.”

Crudely put, but does anyone think Sheffield may have a point behind the recruitment of Latino blacks as opposed to American blacks in baseball? I think we're playing the game, but are we getting recruited?

Most of the darker skinned Latino players don't consider themselves Black. They claim and identify more with Latino culture as that is the culture they were raised in.
Sheffield is absolutely correct and the trend is occurring in other sports, like basketball.
The major leagues can go to Latin America and Asia for baseball prodigies and are culling the best basketballers from Europe and Asia. They say it's just part of globalization. But they want players that aren't going to make problems (like Anthony, Iverson, etc.). Baseball saw some of the issues that the NBA was forced to confront as American Blacks became the overwhelming majority (loss of viewership, fewer fans in the seats, assorted discipline probs) and said Naw Sir! We don't want that over here. And the cycle begins. Young Black American kids don't see many of their own being in the forefront of their sport and they put their attentions elsewhere. Not as many to recruit so fewer Black players in the ranks.
Yes it is a game, but it also a multibillion dollar enterprise. Maybe some of our kids would stay in school, if they saw another outlet for success. Not everyone can play basketball. Some kids are only in school for sports, music, art.

Actually, you should care. There are several reasons why there aren't more African Americans playing baseball as opposed to blacks from Latin America, and it's not just because basketball and football are better marketed to black youth. For starters, Latin American black players are cheaper to sign and manufacture. The type of training they get for free at an MLB franchise team camp is very expensive here in the states.

Another has to do with the possibility of a fast payoff. Pro-basketball and football prospects go from high school and college straight to the pros much quicker than baseball players who often languish for years in the minor leagues, even though on average, MLB players have longer careers and more opportunity to profit. Another reason is that colleges offer more basketball and football scholarships than for baseball. It's also far more common for black American basketball and football players to come from fatherless, single parent homes, than in baseball.

More black kids would probably play baseball, hockey, or tennis, or golf, if they had access to fields,rinks, equipment, coaching etc., but more of them play baseketball and football because it's cheap and readily available. What do the Williams Sisters and Tiger Woods have in common? Fathers, who guided their careers in expensive sports. So on the surface, it may seem trivial, but the fact that American blacks are vanishing from baseball is really indicative of much more.

Oh, and another thing. Though I respect Sheff as a professional and a veteran player, he didn't voice his frustration well. Black American players don't cause anymore trouble in MLB than players of other races. So, this idea that MLB is using blacks from Latin American countries to replace American blacks because they are somehow easier to control is a myth. Those black Latinos are abundant because of how well they play and how frugal they are to produce and sign, not because of what they look like. Think about it. Japan is a hotbed for baseball, but there aren't as many Japanese players here as opposed to the Latin American players, and that's because Japanese players are more expensive to sign.

I know PLENTY of Black kids that play baseball and love it! I will admit though that "urban" Blacks tell me that Blacks don't play baseball and that they will only attend football/basketball games.

I always had the perception that there was a huge boom in the number of black athletes in the 1970s and 1980s because sports was one of the first fields in which blacks could "make it big". Once organized sports became a billion-dollar business, athletic ability became more important to most team managers than skin color. Those first players were heroes, and kids stayed out playing ball all day dreaming of the big leagues. Over the years, parks became less safe, and indoor distractions like TV and video games crept in, keeping kids off the field. In the meantime, other employment options became available- I'm pretty sure my office would have been 100% white 40 years ago, whereas now it's around 50%. Generational and regional differences that are really responsible for the shrinking number of blacks in the major leagues. Kids in the 1960s and 70s wanted to be baseball players. Kids I grew up with in the 1980s and 90s wanted to be basketball players. The generation producing today's rookies would have grown up when interest in baseball was at its lowest. Baseball fever didn't cool off in the same way in the Carribean, so they have become the source of so many fine players.