Major League Baseball celebrates Jackie Robinson Day, but Black players are still waning
One of the reasons Todd Sullivan, a pitching coach at Perfect Game Pitching Solutions, holds an annual honorary Negro League Baseball game is to display some of Sacramento’s top baseball prospects that are primarily Black and brown.
He said the purpose is not only to diversify the game, but also to keep the history of the Negro Leagues alive.
In baseball, April 15 is Jackie Robinson Day because, on this day in 1947, Robinson started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers, becoming the first Black player to play in the Major League Baseball in the modern era.
Robinson’s recruitment from the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro National League, and eventually to MLB, is widely credited for desegregation in baseball. Some say it was also the beginning of the end for the Negro Leagues.
“A business created by a Black man that grew larger than any business at that time with support from only their community,” said Sullivan “Whites felt the pressure and saw the potential. Instead of joining together, they tried to shut it down.”
The Negro National League began in 1920 and was discontinued in the early 1960s.
Rise and decline of Black participation in baseball
From 1947 to the early 1960s, the MLB’s Black demographic steadily rose, with Black players reaching a peak of 18.5% of all players in 1975, according to the Society for American Baseball Research.
The number fluctuated after 1975, but the number of Black players participating in MLB has generally decreased ever since. According to MLB, Black players represent 7.2% of the league in 2022, a decrease from 7.6% in 2021.
However, that statistic does not include Afro-Latino players, who are represented in the Latino demographic. Representation for Latino players slightly increased from 28.1% in 2021 to 28.5% in 2022.
Four-time MLB All-Star and Sacramento native Greg Vaughn said the current representation of Black players in the league is “sad” after all of Robinson’s sacrifices.
The 1998 Silver Slugger said there are different reasons for the drop in numbers, but it starts with accessibility and affordability for local youth leagues.
“We only have 7% of African-Americans in the big leagues,” said Vaughn. “You have a little league (where) the cost is atrocious. Usually you have coaches that don’t look like us so their kids are playing and (ours) sit on the bench.”
MLB and local efforts to diversify the game
MLB has made efforts to increase the diversity of players in the leagues. Between 2012 and 2021, 56 Black players were drafted in the first round, 17.5% of the 319 selections.
Last weekend, Sacramento native and former MLB manager Jerry Manuel held an exposure and skill development camp at his Sacramento charter school. He was joined by Diamond Kinetics, a youth development platform of MLB.
The goal of Manuel’s camp was to help players get selected to MLB-led development programs, such as the Hank Aaron Invitational, Dream Series and Breakthrough Series.
The programs have helped more than 220 alumni get drafted to the pros. The notable alumni include J.P Crawford, Hunter Greene, Akil Baddoo and Dom Smith.
Overall, people of color represent 38% of MLB players, compared to the white counterparts’ 62%.
This is a major influence why Sullivan is currently fundraising for the honorary Negro League game, scheduled for Oct. 9.
The game will pay homage to the Homestead Grays, coached by baseball’s Royster family: Jerry, Danny, Ryan and Danny Jr.
Leon Lee, Leron Lee and Derrek Lee will coach the team representing the Chicago American Giants.
For more information on the game, or to learn how to donate, visit www.perfectgamepitchingsolutions.com and click Negro League Fundraiser.
This story was originally published April 15, 2022 at 12:49 PM.
