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African-Americans haven't abandoned baseball
By Terence Moore | Thursday, August 17, 2006, 06:16 PM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
African-Americans haven't abandoned baseball
, the biggest lie in the history of sports will be exposed with a bunch of swinging, throwing, fielding, sliding and running at Georgia Perimeter College in Clarkston. More than 100 high school baseball prospects, mostly from the South, will flash their considerable skills on campus, and here's the thing: The prospects will be darker than the ball.
So much for the first part of the Big Lie, and that is, African-Americans are so enthralled with the likes of LeBron James and Michael Vick that they've forgotten the legacy of Jackie Robinson. Contrary to the belief of many and to the wishes of some, the reason the number of African-Americans on rosters in the majors has dwindled to less than 10 percent isn't because they've stopped playing.
They're still playing. They were playing 24 years ago when I wrote a weeklong series for the San Francisco Examiner on the drop of African-Americans in the game back then from 24 percent during the early 1970s to 18 percent. Those from Marvin Miller, the former head of the Players Association, to Bill White, the future president of the National League, said there was talk of a quota system in the game to limit the number of African-Americans on the field. I also discovered that the computerized free-agent reports used by the Major League Scouting Bureau at the time had a slot for race. Neither the NFL, NBA nor NHL had anything similar.
When I contacted former commissioner Bowie Kuhn about the practice that Miller, White and others said could be construed as a way to run a quota system, Kuhn said he was stunned. He issued a memo ordering team officials to keep slots for race off scouting forms.
"They [baseball officials] knew what they were doing at the time by putting race on those forms, and that's why we're doing what we're doing now to highlight that there are a lot of good kids playing who are African-American, and they just need a chance," said Roger Cador on Thursday. He's the splendid baseball coach at Southern University, and he is part of an Atlanta group called Mentoring Viable Prospects. It's a group that spent last autumn brainstorming this weekend's MVP Showcase into existence.
In addition to Cador, the group includes Milt Sanders, a local businessman who first proposed the tournament, and Greg Goodwin, the assistant principal at Redan High School. "We've never been under the impression that baseball is dying out in the African-American community, because we've seen the Little Leagues at Gresham Park and at Wade Walker Park and at Brownsmill Park and at Old National just filled with kids playing," said Goodwin, who also coached Redan's baseball team that had 16 players sign pro contracts, including Brandon Phillips, the second baseman for the Cincinnati Reds.
Then there is Cador, in his 28th year coaching at Southern University, where one of his proteges was Rickie Weeks, the Milwaukee Brewers second baseman who was voted the top amateur athlete in the country during his Jaguar days. "I'm telling you that, right now at Southern, we have a minimum of 10 players who really can play," said Cador, bringing us to the second part of the Big Lie. That is, officials in the majors just don't know where to look for African-American players.
See Phillips. See Weeks. Mostly see this weekend's collection of African-American talent, with a heavy emphasis on those from Georgia and Florida. According to Goodwin, college coaches will attend the tournament for recruiting purposes, and he said that, after he contacted all 30 teams in the majors, 14 said they were sending scouts, including the Braves.
Not only that, Danny Montgomery, the assistant scouting director of the Colorado Rockies, spoke with passion this week during a scouting directors convention in Las Vegas about the importance of attending the MVP Showcase. "There will be some first-round draft picks there, and [my peers] could hear the passion in my voice," said Montgomery, an African-American, in his 18th year in scouting. "I told them, 'If you think black kids aren't playing, then you're going to come and see six teams [featuring those prospects] absolutely full of them.' They were very receptive to what I had to say."
Montgomery added that there was even discussion at the convention about whether to resume the practice of putting a slot for race on scouting forms. This time, he said they want to make sure the number of African-American players in the game is going up instead of down.
Said Montgomery, "No question that from what I saw this week, [baseball officials] don't want to put a Band-Aid on the problem anymore. They truly want to heal the wound."
Yeah, well.
We'll see.
So a blacks set up their own event to highlight black prospects then cried racism and forced tons of scouts to come watch. Yeah black people sure have bought into not seeing race NOT. If we orgininized a combine for whites we would get sued for discrimination, and the national guard would be sent in to stop the event. Then we would be the laughing stock in the media, as well as being a sign that the evil power of racism still exist. Why can't he not just come out and say ban whites from baseball it would only be a tad bit more obvious.
By Terence Moore | Thursday, August 17, 2006, 06:16 PM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
African-Americans haven't abandoned baseball
, the biggest lie in the history of sports will be exposed with a bunch of swinging, throwing, fielding, sliding and running at Georgia Perimeter College in Clarkston. More than 100 high school baseball prospects, mostly from the South, will flash their considerable skills on campus, and here's the thing: The prospects will be darker than the ball.
So much for the first part of the Big Lie, and that is, African-Americans are so enthralled with the likes of LeBron James and Michael Vick that they've forgotten the legacy of Jackie Robinson. Contrary to the belief of many and to the wishes of some, the reason the number of African-Americans on rosters in the majors has dwindled to less than 10 percent isn't because they've stopped playing.
They're still playing. They were playing 24 years ago when I wrote a weeklong series for the San Francisco Examiner on the drop of African-Americans in the game back then from 24 percent during the early 1970s to 18 percent. Those from Marvin Miller, the former head of the Players Association, to Bill White, the future president of the National League, said there was talk of a quota system in the game to limit the number of African-Americans on the field. I also discovered that the computerized free-agent reports used by the Major League Scouting Bureau at the time had a slot for race. Neither the NFL, NBA nor NHL had anything similar.
When I contacted former commissioner Bowie Kuhn about the practice that Miller, White and others said could be construed as a way to run a quota system, Kuhn said he was stunned. He issued a memo ordering team officials to keep slots for race off scouting forms.
"They [baseball officials] knew what they were doing at the time by putting race on those forms, and that's why we're doing what we're doing now to highlight that there are a lot of good kids playing who are African-American, and they just need a chance," said Roger Cador on Thursday. He's the splendid baseball coach at Southern University, and he is part of an Atlanta group called Mentoring Viable Prospects. It's a group that spent last autumn brainstorming this weekend's MVP Showcase into existence.
In addition to Cador, the group includes Milt Sanders, a local businessman who first proposed the tournament, and Greg Goodwin, the assistant principal at Redan High School. "We've never been under the impression that baseball is dying out in the African-American community, because we've seen the Little Leagues at Gresham Park and at Wade Walker Park and at Brownsmill Park and at Old National just filled with kids playing," said Goodwin, who also coached Redan's baseball team that had 16 players sign pro contracts, including Brandon Phillips, the second baseman for the Cincinnati Reds.
Then there is Cador, in his 28th year coaching at Southern University, where one of his proteges was Rickie Weeks, the Milwaukee Brewers second baseman who was voted the top amateur athlete in the country during his Jaguar days. "I'm telling you that, right now at Southern, we have a minimum of 10 players who really can play," said Cador, bringing us to the second part of the Big Lie. That is, officials in the majors just don't know where to look for African-American players.
See Phillips. See Weeks. Mostly see this weekend's collection of African-American talent, with a heavy emphasis on those from Georgia and Florida. According to Goodwin, college coaches will attend the tournament for recruiting purposes, and he said that, after he contacted all 30 teams in the majors, 14 said they were sending scouts, including the Braves.
Not only that, Danny Montgomery, the assistant scouting director of the Colorado Rockies, spoke with passion this week during a scouting directors convention in Las Vegas about the importance of attending the MVP Showcase. "There will be some first-round draft picks there, and [my peers] could hear the passion in my voice," said Montgomery, an African-American, in his 18th year in scouting. "I told them, 'If you think black kids aren't playing, then you're going to come and see six teams [featuring those prospects] absolutely full of them.' They were very receptive to what I had to say."
Montgomery added that there was even discussion at the convention about whether to resume the practice of putting a slot for race on scouting forms. This time, he said they want to make sure the number of African-American players in the game is going up instead of down.
Said Montgomery, "No question that from what I saw this week, [baseball officials] don't want to put a Band-Aid on the problem anymore. They truly want to heal the wound."
Yeah, well.
We'll see.
So a blacks set up their own event to highlight black prospects then cried racism and forced tons of scouts to come watch. Yeah black people sure have bought into not seeing race NOT. If we orgininized a combine for whites we would get sued for discrimination, and the national guard would be sent in to stop the event. Then we would be the laughing stock in the media, as well as being a sign that the evil power of racism still exist. Why can't he not just come out and say ban whites from baseball it would only be a tad bit more obvious.
