Decline in Percentage of African Americans in Major League Baseball

When Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers, it opened the door for every other African American to play at baseballs highest level, in the major leagues. Since this time African Americans such as Henry Aaron, Tony Gwyn, Joe Carter, Ken Griffey Jr., and Barry Bonds, have been some of the best players to play between the white lines. While African Americans have been given every opportunity to play in the major league, the number of African Americans playing professional baseball has drastically decreased. Although this is mainly due to the development and importing of players from Latin America and the east, some African American players believe that an injustice is occurring.

One of the first instances occurred during a telecast of Sunday night baseball on ESPN. During the game, a former African American player was interviewed and the conversation turned to the subject. The former great noted that he was in disbelief that the percentage of African American players in the major league was declining. He then stated that once the African American disappeared from the big leagues, so would the five tool player. A five tool player is one who can hit, throw, run, field, and hit for power. This comment infers that all players of different races are inferior to African Americans in baseball.

A more recent and more notable conversation occurred when Gary Sheffield was interviewed in GQ magazine. Sheffield believes that more Latin American players are being allowed into the major leagues because they cannot speak sufficient English, thus making them easier to control. Sheffield also noted that African Americans refuse to be controlled and because of this mindset, are being prevented from playing. Supporting his argument, Sheffield has seen players back home who can outplay and outperform some of the players that are currently in the major league.

Although these statistics are true, the responses that some of these players are giving are highly uneducated. Yes, the percentage of African Americans playing in the major leagues is falling but so is the number of Caucasian players. And while the number of Caucasian players might not be dropping as fast, it is still dropping because of the development of players of other origins. Players from other parts of the world, especially the east and Latin America, are showing they can play at the elite level. Take for example the recent World Baseball Classic. The United States team, which was considered to be one of the favorites, went home early and saw Japan play Cuba in the championship. Major league organizations have realized the potential in these areas and have begun to set up training camps in these locations. Latin American is a prime area because a camp can be set up cheaply, and the warm weather climate will allow baseball to be played all year round. So there are only fewer African American players in the major league, they are fewer of everyone else as well, because the rest of the world is catching up.