Yesterday Major League Baseball celebrated the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier. Not just a huge day in baseball, or sports, but a catalyst for the entire Civil Rights Movement. Reminded me that back in 5th grade I wrote a paper on Jackie, which helped me connect to a ball player I otherwise had no connection to. He wasn’t an ex-Met, he wasn’t a member of the Cleveland Indians (my dads’ childhood team, therefore his heroes always meant something to me), but that paper made me a Jackie fan for life, as well as opened a soft spot in my heart for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
After Do The Right Thing came out just a few years later I wanted to get a Robinson #42 jersey, this was way before the term “throwback” jersey was used to market baseball jerseys. As well back when baseball knew how to market itself, and more importantly, how to still market itself to African-Americans. There isn’t a date to remember, but at some point baseball either just forgot about African-Americans or couldn’t figure out how to market the game to them. I do know, however, it was right around this time. This is when Michael Jordan was exploding on to the sports scene, as well as Americas conscience.
Jordan, along with Nike whose roll can’t be forgotten, helped make basketball the most popular sport in the inner-city. While baseball lost its claim to Americas Past time, and was passed up by the NBA and NFL. Major league rosters are now something like 40% minority, but only 8% of all players are African-American. In 1975 the number was 27.5%. In part, this is due to the increase in international players joining the majors. Baseball is huge in Latin-America. So I think Jackie would be proud that so many minorities are in the game, yet the trend is scary. The NBA is only 10% white now. Why the big difference? I think it comes down to marketing.
Many point to the difficulties in having large baseball fields in the cities, as well as the costs of bats, cleats, gloves and helmets. Where as basketball courts are relatively small, and basketballs are pretty cheap. This is where Major League Baseball needs to step in. There are some programs, such as RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) but that isn’t enough. Not only do you have to give them a place to play, but idols to mimic. Everyone my age spent time dribbling a ball alone, counting down an imaginary clock and pretending to be Michael Jordan taking the final shot. Baseball has done an atrocious job of giving young fans, especially black fans, real idols.
First of all, they screwed up when they did away with the NBC Game of the Week every Saturday afternoon. World Series games start so late, that even adults can’t stay up for them. But they never marketed players right, except for Cal Ripkens assault on the record books and the great home run race of 98, which is now forever tainted. You can watch any rap video, and the majority of those in the videos are wearing baseball hats. But for some reason, it’s just an accessory, and this is baseballs fault. They didn’t do nearly enough to promote Ken Griffey Jr. in the early and mid-90’s. And you know what, same goes with Barry Bonds. The NBA found a way to make Charles Barkley a role model for not being a role model, and baseball had the same opportunity with Bonds.
Baseball tries to walk a thin line, as it always wants to keep true to its roots and long lasting traditions, but still run a successful business. And as long as the television contracts were there, and the seats are being filled, there were no reasons to worry. But they’ve squeezed a large part of its fan base out of the picture. The irony is, many teams set up camps in places like the Dominican Republic. Camps where they teach the game and give opportunities to those who otherwise wouldn’t have any, and they can’t do anything similar in this country.
Today, baseball needs to make a big deal out of Ryan Howard. Carl Crawford jerseys need to be as hot as Dwayne Wade’s. Dontrelle Willis needs to be in commercials. Yesterday all-time greats Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson threw out first pitches to help honor Jackie for blazing the trail, who will throw out the first pitch in 20 or 30 years?
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