Comments on: Does Baseball Need To Diversify Its Portfolio?

By: Gwynne

Gwynne — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:52:50 +0000

How do i get a list of sports agencies and scouts in the DR? I am launching a baseball tournament for programs for kids ages 14-17 on Sat Nov 29 and want to invite agents in addition to major league reps.

By: Lawrence

Lawrence — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:17:48 +0000

I think some of you guys took the “black” thing to technical. I’m pretty sure we all understand that when he refers to black he is reffering to African Americans. Players like Renteria and Soriano are black in color but aren’t African American.

Second Nate makes a great point about the decline starting from the Junior level. Many young African American kids grow up in the inner city where Basketball and Football are gold. If the kids see it on TV that’s what they want to become. It all comes down to marketing the African American players in the majors. That In turn will expose the kids to someone like them and maybe than might a kid want to pursue baseball.

These kids are exposed to Lebron, Kobe, D. Wade, Terrel Owens, and Ocho Cinco all day. When was the last time you’ve seen Tori Hunter, or Ken Griffey on television other than an actual game. Back in the days when Griffey had his own shoe by NIKE all the kids around knew him than. His game hasn’t been all that great in recent years, but that’s the kind of exposure the African American athlete needs in baseball to be an influence for future black athletes.

MARKETING THE AFRICAN AMERICAN Ball player is the KEY!!!

By: J. Taveras

J. Taveras — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 22:17:25 +0000

Steve hit the nail on the head.
I myself was born in the Dominican Republic and I am black. Most of these Latin players today are black. Theres a shortage in African American players but not black players.

By: Steve Johnson

Steve Johnson — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 14:54:16 +0000

the percentage of blacks on Major League rosters hit a 20-year low at 8.2 percent in the 2007 season

So Carlos Delgado (for example) isn’t black?

Ok, I can see that he isn’t an African-American but claiming that the number of “blacks” in MLB is dropping while classing everyone from a Spanish speaking country as non-black is ridiculous. If you want to talk about the decline in American born black people playing baseball, fine but why is that any more or less of a concern than the decline in the numbers of white Americans playing baseball?

By: Nate

Nate — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 18:37:59 +0000

Hard to draft players that don’t exist. The decrease in black players goes all the way down to the junior levels. Some argue that the game itself is too tedious and long compared with the flash and glamour of the NBA, for instance.

By: Kenji Summers

Kenji Summers — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 18:11:00 +0000

Dominicans to Baseball as Black Americans to Basketball.
Capitalism plays the biggest part in this on going saga of professional sports as a vehicle for upward mobility. Too bad sports are only a Toyota…

Think about it

By: Gordon

Gordon — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:34:30 +0000

Dude, the problem isn’t “diversity”, the problem is the draft. A black kid from the US has to go into the draft, whereas a Dominican kid can be signed directly by a team.