It's Little League World Series time again!

Where are the Dominican Little League Champs?

They've already signed MLB minor league contracts and are presently tearing up the single A and AA leagues.

 

Racism in baseball? Do you people ever quit? Baseball is probably the least racist institution there is.

Have you ever watched a game?

Did you watch this year's homerun derby? There were players from about a dozen different countries. (I forget the exact number and I don't feel like googling it.)

How many sports can you name where most players and coaches speak at least two languages. Where else can an umpire be "cussed out" in English, Spanish, and Japanese, all in one evening.

Did you know that major league scouts are compensated based on the level of talent they bring to the team? Do you think a scout is going to pass over a talented player because he is not a WASP.

How can a discussion of something as perfect and pristine as boys playing baseball turn into a political debate over race. UNBELIEVABLE!

 

gkillion: Racism in baseball? Do you people ever quit? Baseball is probably the least racist institution there is.

jbear:

In major league baseball in '04*

Number of African-American team owners: 0
Number of African-American minority share-holders: 2 (one being Hank Aaron)
Number of African-American CEOs/Presidents: 0
Number of African-American General Managers: 1
Number of African-American CFOs: 1
Number of African-American team physicians: 1
Number of African-American head trainers: 0

Percentage of African-American players: 9%
Percentage of African-American pitchers: 3%
Percentage of African-American catchers: 2%
Percentage of African-American outfielders: 26%
_________
* That would be 2004, not 1904

(Source: http://www.ncasports.org/images/Major%20League%20Baseball%20Report%20final.pdf)

 

Wake up People!!

This is all foolish. "America's Game" is actually a game now played in America by foreigners. Foreigners that generally come from Latin America where they grow up playing on dirt lots, hot-seat gloves and play with baseballs that are taped together to extend their life. They have passion for the game there and that has been sadly lacking in US kids for a long time.

When was the last time any of you drove by a school or a park and actually saw American kids playing a pick-up game of baseball? The closest our kids get to baseball out of an organized league is on their x-box's. Actually, I take that back, I did see a game in a park in West Chicago a few years ago. However, when I stopped to watch I saw that the kids were members of West Chicago's rapidly growing latino community. Again, they still have the passion apparently.

I coach little league and the skill level of even 5th and 6th graders is abysmal. They barely know the fundamentals or the rules of the game at an age where I had worn out 3 or 4 gloves and palyed it almost every day during the school year during recess. Inner city kids are even worse as ball fields are few and far between in inner city urban areas. The few available are often overgrown with weeds and rarely used. Basketball is played passionately in the cities, not baseball.

However, my son and his friends are far better soccer players than we ever were. I never bothered to learn the rules until soldiers started entering the Army that had grown up playing soccer. The first time one accused me of fouling him I was amazed, "what's a foul? You're still walking!".

A perusal of the statistics in the source posted by Dr. Bear will also show that WASP's are underrepresented as players in the USA. Of course, that isn't mentioned as it does not meet the agenda of that particular study. Again, what that study really proves is how few American kids grow up playing baseball these days.

Taiwan got in some serious trouble several years ago during their powerhouse days because they were drafting kids from too large of areas. If I remember right the complaint was made by the Japanese, not the USA. They were suspended for a while and have been monitored pretty closely ever since.

 

I thought we were talking about players. I responded to your idea that "something else is going on" because there are so few Taiwanese players, and DesElms' claim of racism being the reason for that.

These positions have nothing to do with playing ability. Hiring practices for off-the-field personnel are a completely different matter than your original remarks pertained to.

The publication you cite also gives MLB the following grades for racial diversity.

MLB Grade for Players: A+

MLB Grade for Managers: A

MLB Grade for coaches: A+

If baseball is so racist, how does it receive these grades?

Someone brought up Jackie Robinson. Jackie, as well as, many other Blacks played in MLB before they were even allowed to drink from the same water fountain as Whites.

 

Re: Wake up People!!

My brother!!

I played organized baseball from the time I was 8 untill I was 22. The only thing I have ever wanted to do was be a big league pitcher.

Growing up near St. Louis, my idol was Bob Gibson, one of the most intimidating and fierce competitors ever to play. During one trip to Busch Stadium, my parents bought me his book, "From Ghetto to Glory". I think I did a book report on that book every year of school beginning in about the fifth grade. I still can't believe those teachers never talked to each other.

I still get choked-up everytime I see the video of Jack Buck singing "Take me out to the Ball Game" at Wrigley Field.

I recently watched the movie "61" for the first time. At the end of the movie I was crying like a baby.

Now, everytime I take my kids to a game to watch Albert Pujols playing on the greenest grass I've ever seen, and I smell the hot dogs and the popcorn, I get a knot in my stomach and wish it could be me out there just one time.

So, you whiners on this board can trash me, or trash my president, but you better not trash baseball.

 

I too loved baseball..

However, as only an ok player I never had a future in it as a profession. I have since become very disillusioned with the state of the professional game. The Cardinals at least are one of the better teams when it comes to lousy behaviour by the players. However, the league is loaded with spoiled, whining players that forget the fan pays their bills.

When I go to a Cardinal's game today it is for pure entertainment as it is very hard to root for a group of players that will leap when offered the chance for a bigger paycheck and/or one that refuses to sign an autograph unless they are paid for it. And the Cardinals are actually one of the better teams in the league when it comes to conduct!

Don't get me wrong. I do not begrudge them their money. If their abilities are such they can make that kind of money so be it. I am a free market fan after all!! However, the whining, bad mouthing of the fans, drugs and all the other stuff has ruined professional baseball in my eyes.

I leave my fervent rooting for my kids teams and my local high school.....