Attention, EEOC: The Undefeated Endorses Segregated Baseball Team to Reconnect Black Culture to MLB

October 29th, 2018 8:13 PM

Much has been said in recent years (including charges of racism) about the declining number of African-Americans playing Major League Baseball (note photo of Yankees' CC Sabathia, right, and teammate in photo). The Undefeated sports blog is running a story about a former MLB manager suggesting a hair-brained idea to change that―an all-black team. William C. Rhoden, author of the story, calls it a "great idea." The EEOC would surely disagree!

Jerry Manuel, a former major league manager now serving as a consultant for MLB's baseball and softball development department, is suggesting baseball put this plan in motion before the next World Baseball Classic:

“I think there needs to be an African-American team, to get our culture reconnected to the game. I think we need to segregate and then come back and integrate."

Great African-American athletes coming out of high school and college are not welcoming that reconnection. Instead of riding buses in the minor leagues for a few years in hopes of reaching baseball's major league level, there's instant gratification and a whole lot of money to be made by going straight to the NBA or NFL.

Nevertheless, Rhoden writes of the all-African-American team: "This is a great idea, one that reinforces the idea that you cannot be what you cannot see.

"For all the talk about the historic matchup between two managers of color, this World Series underlines the extent to which baseball has lost its African-American talent pool. Boston has three African-American players and the Dodgers have two, only one of whom is on the World Series roster."

Rather than recognize the choices available to gifted African-American athletes, Rhoden blames baseball for making it difficult for African-Americans, "with a deep, rich legacy in baseball," to reconnect with the sport. Polling in recent years shows something else: African-Americans have long been losing interest in baseball.

Ignoring that reality, Manual grasps at straws to rationalize the A-A player drain in baseball. He brought up  Chicago's Jackie Robinson West all-stars who, several years ago, won the U.S. Little League championship and drew great television ratings. That team was stripped of its national championship for using ineligible players, but Rhoden says, "The team’s success was a hopeful sign that baseball was making a comeback in the black community." And, for Manuel, "a point was made":

“That just gave me an inkling of what that would be like if our culture could celebrate like Puerto Rico celebrates, like the Dominicans celebrate, like Japan.”

Rhoden admits Manuel’s proposal may sound drastic to some, "but if Major League Baseball wants to re-establish its connection with talented young black athletes, it must show them that baseball is a viable alternative. In fact, baseball is the best alternative when all things are considered: wear and tear on the body, longevity and participating in a sport where athleticism will go a very long way."

The Undefeated story recognizes that Major League Baseball offers several programs where cost is not a factor to African-American families. Equipment, travel, room and board, as well as meals are provided free of charge. Baseball offers numerous camps, academies and programs like Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities. Nevertheless, tune in to football and basketball broadcasts, and you see what sport most African-American athletes are not choosing to play.

Rhoden notes that Andrew Toles, of the Los Angeles Dodgers, "is an example of a talented young black athlete who escaped the football-basketball vortex and found his way to Major League Baseball without a road map."

Athletes unable to escape that vortex are earning millions in the NBA and NFL. To media leftists like Rhoden, the focus is on race and social engineering. Except when it comes to the racial imbalance in pro football and basketball. No one is foolish enough to suggest all-white NBA and NFL teams to reconnect white culture with those sports.