Fewer Black Players in Youth Baseball

This year, there were no U.S.-born Black players competing in the World Series, a first since 1950. This shows the MLB’s long struggle with diversity. A recent CNN report profiled one 13-year-old who is the only Black player on his traveling team. “He knows he’s the only one there,” the player’s father said. “Whatever he does, however he’s getting looked at, he sticks out like a sore thumb … He’s known for being the one player in our area that is the Black player.”

Baseball clubs look for players in the Dominican Republic and other countries in Latin America. They don’t pay enough attention to places in the United States. We are seeing more and more international players coming to the United States. There were players representing 8 different countries in the World Series.

The thing is that baseball actually tried. Baseball has taken some strides in recruiting Black players, but data shows a lot more work needs to be done. Baseball equipment, fields, and team fees are getting more and more expensive. If kids and families can’t pay, they can’t play. According to the CNN report, baseball fields in some urban areas aren’t being built or fixed, so fields are fewer and farther between. This means that less and less kids are motivated to play baseball. In practice, that means that fewer Black kids play, learn, get drafted and go to the majors. It is a chain reaction that is getting worse and worse every year. 

Here’s what needs to be done. Baseball needs to increase interest in the United States and invest more in facilities so more people are motivated to play baseball. This will start a different chain reaction that will have more Black players succeed and play at the Major League level. For black players to succeed, MLB needs to try harder than ever before to see change.