Out in Right Field: Players' Claims of Not Enough Blacks in MLB Are Curious

Why Make a Distinction Between Blacks Born in the U.S. And Elsewhere?

A lot has been made recently about the lack of U.S.-born blacks on Major League Baseball rosters. My buddy Zac Wassink wrote a piece for AC about C.C. Sabathia commenting on this phenomenon. Also, Cardinals outfielder Preston Wilson called for more U.S.-born blacks in the Majors in an article that appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Personally, I do not understand why this is an issue at all.

I want to know why we distinguish between U.S.-born blacks and blacks born elsewhere in the world. If you were walking down the street and bumped into Wilson Betemit or Edgar Renteria or Dave Roberts, how would you classify them? I would say they were black. But seemingly they are not black enough for C.C. Sabathia or Preston Wilson. Prior to 1947, when Jackie Robinson broke the color line, none of these players would have been allowed to play in the Majors.

As a baseball fan, I want the best athletes playing my favorite sport. But the decline of U.S.-born blacks from whatever era you wish to point to as the high point of their participation has not resulted in a decrease in the overall talent pool. I think it's pretty clear that the level of play is better in Major League baseball today than at any point in history. And this is because of the increase of Latins (many of whom are black), Asians and even Australians and Canadians.

Maybe baseball is missing out on the next Willie Mays. But with Manny Ramirez and Vladimir Guerrero, I think we're still seeing tremendous players. Perhaps Bob Gibson is not walking through the door, but he's been replaced by Johan Santana and Daisuke Matsuzaka.