In your opinion what caused the decline of African Americans in Baseball?

[NYC Rebel]

Because we shouldnt be singling out one demographic. Its down across the board, except for the DR.

I'm sorry...but what the hell is wrong with you? Have you read the thread title?

I keep telling you...when a sport shows no interest in you.....people respond by not getting into it. MLB has disconnected itself from the black community years ago. MLB has disconnected itself from PR years ago and we're now seeing the SAME EXACT results.

 

[Scientific]

Again...do you agree or disagree? Is your point that blacks interest in the game changed?

I don't agree. MLB interests in blacks changed.....so blacks stopped playing.

MLB interests in Puerto Ricans changed...so Puerto Ricans stopped playing.

Academies closed because of the age requirement for drafting Rican players. Peurto Ricans contribution to the game is one that is deeply rooted, MLB on that end had no real reason to shut them off. My theory has always been they jumped the gun on the island. They anticipated it becoming the 51st state, and instituted the age requirement. Again, supply and demand. Less and less of them were being drafted, compared to Dominicans. Look at Panama, another example. Baseball is dying there. Soccer has exploded in the last 10 years because Euro clubs have been recruiting kids into their clubs. I think Panama is the better example, because unlike Puerto Rico, neither basketball or football has really penetrated there. Granted it was never producing the kind of players the island was, but soccer has come in and just taken over. When i went to panama, all they talked about was making it to the world cup. Baseball is gradually disappearing there.

A lot of factors contribute to the decline of one sport over the other. People look back at the old days of how blacks were ingrained into baseball. But those were the days when baseball was our 'pastime". That time has come and gone. Football dominates. Obama was almost stepping in when the NFL was close to losing a season. That should tell you why baseball took a backseat a long time ago.

 

[NYC Rebel]

Academies closed because of the age requirement for drafting Rican players. Peurto Ricans contribution to the game is one that is deeply rooted, MLB on that end had no real reason to shut them off. My theory has always been they jumped the gun on the island. They anticipated it becoming the 51st state, and instituted the age requirement. Again, supply and demand. Less and less of them were being drafted, compared to Dominicans. Look at Panama, another example. Baseball is dying there. Soccer has exploded in the last 10 years because Euro clubs have been recruiting kids into their clubs. I think Panama is the better example, because unlike Puerto Rico, neither basketball or football has really penetrated there. Granted it was never producing the kind of players the island was, but soccer has come in and just taken over. When i went to panama, all they talked about was making it to the world cup. Baseball is gradually disappearing there.

A lot of factors contribute to the decline of one sport over the other. People look back at the old days of how blacks were ingrained into baseball. But those were the days when baseball was our 'pastime". That time has come and gone. Football dominates. Obama was almost stepping in when the NFL was close to losing a season. That should tell you why baseball took a backseat a long time ago.

I don't get the last paragraph. You're pointing to the obvious end result. We know that. I'm speaking on what led us there.

As far as Puerto Rico....yes....MLB closed those academies anticipating that PR would have to face the same bylaws placed on American players, not only in age requirements....but salaries. If a business has the opportunity to lock a 15 year old and sign him to a $5000 contract in the DR, they're going to go there. It was the same thing that happened to blacks in baseball. There was a relationship MLB had to the black community that they eventually moved on from because of economics....so our interest moved on. Now black kids look at baseball from the outside looking in to say its boring.

and you're right about baseball being "our" pastime at one time. When we were playing...you had Satchel Paige telling all his players to sit down while he pitched. We had our own steez, much like the Cubans still do. MLB and their tight asses do everything they can to take away our flair because of their rules of the game conflicting with our own.

 

[Scientific]

I don't get the last paragraph. You're pointing to the obvious end result. We know that. I'm speaking on what led us there.

I understand that, but that's why I said; a lot of factors contribute to that, thats what led baseball there. Its like anything. A new wave comes, and it takes on the trend. Football came in a wave that MLB couldn't control. You can't just point the finger at baseball, when that was out of its control.

Lets look at boxing. Why are there less white boxers? Its dominated now almost exclusively by black and Latin fighters. We're the ones holding it down for boxing for the most part. White people moved on with MMA. Some of it, is boxing's own doing, but still. White kids arent boxing at the same rate black and Latinos are. That part of the trend, boxing really can't control. What I'm saying is, baseball is partly to be blamed, but in my opinion, it has been left behind in popularity. You can't ding them for that.

 

[Scientific]

colleges being able to recruit and display players before they'd go pro is another reason. Fans of a school, were seeing these kids develop. In baseball, you'd wait years to see them at the pro level. So college football was really what lead to the popularity. Again, its one reason the fans fell in love with football. And why college baseball isnt as good as the minors, and why its ignored. The product isn't one the same tier.

 

[Trip]

when a sport shows no interest in you.....

How does a sport show interest in you? Not to be a dikk....but

Baseball is on tv/internet every single day for 6 months. Everyone has access to the sport. There's video games. Baseball just isnt as popular as basketball and football.

 

[NYC Rebel]

How does a sport show interest in you? Not to be a dikk....but

Baseball is on tv/internet every single day for 6 months. Everyone has access to the sport. There's video games. Baseball just isnt as popular as basketball and football.

I'm done. You stay forcing people into talking circles.

 

[tremonthustler1]

and you're right about baseball being "our" pastime at one time. When we were playing...you had Satchel Paige telling all his players to sit down while he pitched. We had our own steez, much like the Cubans still do. MLB and their tight asses do everything they can to take away our flair because of their rules of the game conflicting with our own.

Given what happened at the 2013 WBC, you'll see that start to loosen up a bit. It already has slowly. People saw how DR was playing and even the teams getting dissed were like shyt I wish we could do that during the season

 

[NYC Rebel]

Given what happened at the 2013 WBC, you'll see that start to loosen up a bit. It already has slowly. People saw how DR was playing and even the teams getting dissed were like shyt I wish we could do that during the season

I was loving that shyt.

 

[Trip]

I'm done. You stay forcing people into talking circles.

This might be the greatest example of pot meet kettle in world history.

 

[NYC Rebel]

This might be the greatest example of pot meet kettle in world history.

No...it isn't. You either move goal posts or play idiot . I clearly stated how people lost interest in the game due MLB leaving their in roads to the black community.

Don't you EVER ask yourself why you're always the ONLY ONE in a long winded discussion where everyone else seems to get it, you never seem to? You fail at reading

 

[Big Boss]

The black team losing on espn right now

 

[#1 pick]

We don't even have thugs in Baseball anymore. Remember Albert Belle and nikkas like that. nikkas like Kenny Lofton with the gold chain. When I watched as a kid, this was still a 30-35% Black sport and depending on the team, it was 50-55% of color of some type.

 

[#1 pick]

My little nikkas getting beat 9-1 by Michigan.

 

[The Amerikkkan Idol]

That's a load of bullshyt. You obviously don't know how racist football use to be to black players, especially in the south.

Are you fukking kidding?

Fritz Pollard and Bobby Marshall were playing in the NFL in 1920, TWENTY SEVEN YEARS before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in major league baseball.

Then he was the first black coach in 1921.

This is back when Black folks couldn't even step on White folks baseball diamonds in the MLB

And yes, football was racist as hell back them, but hell, EVERYTHING was racist back then.

i wonder if white ppl are making threads about the decline of whites in basketball and football

Um, yeah. ALL over the internet just fukking google it and you'll see a hell of a lot of them.

We don't even have thugs in Baseball anymore. Remember Albert Belle and nikkas like that. nikkas like Kenny Lofton with the gold chain. When I watched as a kid, this was still a 30-35% Black sport and depending on the team, it was 50-55% of color of some type.

Exactly, this was partially my point.

Dudes like Albert Belle, Barry Bonds, and Bobby Bonilla, Darryl Strawberry, Vince Coleman, Gary Sheffield were real ass nikkaz, mang. And the baseball elites villified ALL of those guys.

Ken Griffey and like Tony Gwynn were like the only nikkaz they didn't drag through the mud. They even villifed "The Big Hurt" in Chicago.

ESPN and the media stayed shytting on Black players in MLB.

The difference between MLB and the NBA and NFL is that the NBA and NFL haven't found a way to replace all of us with our "bad attitudes" because of our "thug culture" and "entitlement".

The NBA has tried, but the Euros can't measure up to LeBron, Kobe, Durant, etc. . . and nobody in the world really cares about American football, but Americans, so there are no cheaper "more grateful" people they can replace us and our "attitudes" with.