Twenty years ago baseball was graced with an abundance of talented African American players. Players who broke records, won championships, and captured the audience of America. Now the same amount of black talent in this sport is hard to find. There aren’t as many black stars as there once were. Yet, baseball can renew the interest of the sport among the African American community, and all signs appear as if they are at least trying to do so. Back in the 90’s baseball had star players on many teams. Names like Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr., Tony Gwynn, Frank Thomas and Gary Sheffield were fixtures in America’s pastime. Now I challenge you to name at least five black players in baseball today of similar stature. Many will not be able to.
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RBI stands for Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities and they are striving to help create an outlet for black athletes to become involved and succeed with the sport. RBI promotes the game to both boys and girls from the age of five to eighteen. In 2013 they had 213,000 participants and that number has climbed higher the past few years. Major League Baseball realizes the importance of maintaining popularity in the black community is. Rob Mansfred the newly elected commissioner, recently stated the value of diversity in the sport. He was discussing the issue of the lack of African American managers and coaches throughout the league. So change with diversity in the sport could be on the way. Officials of the sport see the lack of black players and I truly believe they are trying to increase not only the number of players but the popularity of it as well. Baseball is the most historic sport in America. We’ve seen so many African Americans dominate this sport even before Jackie broke the color barrier. Even as many people think baseball among blacks is fading into oblivion, it can still be restored. Maybe baseball just needs that black superstar like a modern day Griffey or Bonds to bring back its reputation to the black race. It may just need that one major role model that young children can look up
RBI stands for Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities and they are striving to help create an outlet for black athletes to become involved and succeed with the sport. RBI promotes the game to both boys and girls from the age of five to eighteen. In 2013 they had 213,000 participants and that number has climbed higher the past few years. Major League Baseball realizes the importance of maintaining popularity in the black community is. Rob Mansfred the newly elected commissioner, recently stated the value of diversity in the sport. He was discussing the issue of the lack of African American managers and coaches throughout the league. So change with diversity in the sport could be on the way. Officials of the sport see the lack of black players and I truly believe they are trying to increase not only the number of players but the popularity of it as well. Baseball is the most historic sport in America. We’ve seen so many African Americans dominate this sport even before Jackie broke the color barrier. Even as many people think baseball among blacks is fading into oblivion, it can still be restored. Maybe baseball just needs that black superstar like a modern day Griffey or Bonds to bring back its reputation to the black race. It may just need that one major role model that young children can look up