It is that time of year again and the teams are assembling to start spring training.  Yet once again, I find myself wondering about the future of Major League Baseball in the USA, particularly with regard to African-Americans.

On Christmas Day 2009, I sat, for nearly the entire day, again watching the Ken Burns documentary on baseball.  Seeing the history of U.S. baseball before my eyes, and particularly the African-American contribution, stood in stark contrast to current realities and the disconnect that has grown between African-Americans and baseball.  

Plummeting numbers

African-American participation in baseball has gone from a high of 27 percent in 1975, to a low of 8.2 percent in 2007, and then up to 10.2 percent in 2009.  Added to this are the anemic game attendance numbers, again standing in contrast to African-American engagement during the time of the Negro Leagues and in the 1950s and 1960s.

There are many reasons that have been cited for this decline, but in many respects, baseball has become a metaphor for the economic policies that the USA has been following since the late 1970s.  With the rise of "economic neo-liberalism," there has been an increase in deregulation, subcontracting, shifting of the cost of necessary training onto the back of the worker, the relocation of manufacturing to either other countries or to rural areas in the USA, and a very anti-worker/anti-union climate.

What happened?  U.S. baseball has never recruited solely from the United States.  Players from Mexico and Cuba, for instance, have had a presence here in the USA.  But less attention has been placed on truly developing players from the USA, most especially African-Americans.  A decline in urban spaces for baseball diamonds has certainly contributed to the problem of a lack of engaged youth, in contrast with basketball. The owners have increasingly sought players from overseas, thereby avoiding the expense of cultivating domestic players.  They have identified excellent players particularly from Latin America who are, quite logically, drawn to the USA with the possibility of larger salaries. 

No domestic investment

Yet the net impact of this is that there is no investment in creating a domestic market of baseball players. None of this would be a particular problem if there was a significant market for African-American baseball players in other countries.  There is not. 

And none of this is to bash the Latino or Asian players coming to the USA.   The ‘crime’ is that a sport that was central to the African-American historical experience has been ripped away from us by the actions of greedy owners and urban developers, with the latter grabbing any available land for yet another condominium or shopping center.

The Major League Baseball Players Association, the union representing players, has a campaign to renew interest in baseball in our cities. This is a good step, but far more needs to be done.  If cities, for instance, are going to spend millions of dollars on new stadiums – which is not a good economic investment, by the way – why is there not a commitment by the baseball team owners toward investing in programs to encourage youth to enter into baseball?  Why are there no commitments to build baseball diamonds targeted at youth?

Simple answer

The simple answer is that there is no demand. The number of African-American players will probably continue to fluctuate in the 8-10 percent slot. The sport will drift into the realm of an historical note for coming generations of African-Americans.

Bill Fletcher, Jr. is executive editor of BlackCommentator.com and is the immediate past president of TransAfrica Forum. Contact him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .