04-17-2004, 12:33 AM
I think you are misunderstanding me. 1) All the of black people in baseball are good at the sport. If you look at the breakdown of the league, blacks perform statiscally better.
2) They try to play off that there is an inequality because there is no baseball in the inner city. That's just not true. There are three big sports in NYC. Basketball, football, baseball. In my other post, I said 126 high school baseball teams. I was partially wrong, because I only listed PSAL teams. There are three leagues in NYC; PSAL, CHSAA, and Prep School.
Yes, it's upsetting that there's an inequality. But look at the demographic changes in baseball over the last few decades.
The league is now composed of athletes from South America, Canada, and Asia.
The starting lineup for the Yankees tonight is
K Lofton
D Jeter
A Rodriguez
J Giambi
G Sheffield
J Posada
H Matsui
B Williams
E Wilson
J Vaquez
There's 1 and a half white people in that lineup. I don't think there has ever been a time in the Yankees history where their lineup was so diverse as it is now. There are three and a half black people.
Besides that, look at the increased popularity of other sports since the majors became intergrated. With more teams, increased televison exposure, night games, cable tv, ESPN, other sports have received just as much attention as baseball. And other sports have intergrated more than baseball. Football seems to be the least global sport of the big three, since football has just always been an American only sport. Basketball, under the past 20 years under Stern, has most definatly become a global sport. Just look at how the USA team was elimnated from the world championships (when not playing with NBA athletes)
Yes, there are just as many blacks playing baseball today as there were when the league became intergrated. But today's league has more latin players and japanese players than back then as well. On top of that, there are a lot more sports offered in grammer school, high school and college programs. The list of sports normally found in a NYC high school are: track and field, basketball, baseball, football, soccer, hockey, swimming, wrestling, bowling and volleyball. The number of Olympic sports has increased, as well as the number of professional sports leagues in the US.
I just don't see what there is to lament about when there are currently more opportunities across the board in so many sports than there were 50 years ago.
2) They try to play off that there is an inequality because there is no baseball in the inner city. That's just not true. There are three big sports in NYC. Basketball, football, baseball. In my other post, I said 126 high school baseball teams. I was partially wrong, because I only listed PSAL teams. There are three leagues in NYC; PSAL, CHSAA, and Prep School.
Yes, it's upsetting that there's an inequality. But look at the demographic changes in baseball over the last few decades.
The league is now composed of athletes from South America, Canada, and Asia.
The starting lineup for the Yankees tonight is
K Lofton
D Jeter
A Rodriguez
J Giambi
G Sheffield
J Posada
H Matsui
B Williams
E Wilson
J Vaquez
There's 1 and a half white people in that lineup. I don't think there has ever been a time in the Yankees history where their lineup was so diverse as it is now. There are three and a half black people.
Besides that, look at the increased popularity of other sports since the majors became intergrated. With more teams, increased televison exposure, night games, cable tv, ESPN, other sports have received just as much attention as baseball. And other sports have intergrated more than baseball. Football seems to be the least global sport of the big three, since football has just always been an American only sport. Basketball, under the past 20 years under Stern, has most definatly become a global sport. Just look at how the USA team was elimnated from the world championships (when not playing with NBA athletes)
Yes, there are just as many blacks playing baseball today as there were when the league became intergrated. But today's league has more latin players and japanese players than back then as well. On top of that, there are a lot more sports offered in grammer school, high school and college programs. The list of sports normally found in a NYC high school are: track and field, basketball, baseball, football, soccer, hockey, swimming, wrestling, bowling and volleyball. The number of Olympic sports has increased, as well as the number of professional sports leagues in the US.
I just don't see what there is to lament about when there are currently more opportunities across the board in so many sports than there were 50 years ago.