How the NFL killed baseball in the minds of Black American children.
Friday, July 6, 2007 at 05:30PM 
Barry Bonds soon to be the homerun leader!
I don't ordinarily speak on sports, for my own reasons, however there are some things to say here as I am noticing what may be a trend to move Black Americans out of the game of baseball. I must say, there have been times when we hurt ourselves as in the case of baseball. In April 1974 33% of Black kids played organized baseball, by 2007 only 7% play the game. First, let me say a bit about Barry Bonds. I am sick of the white pestilence coming to the ball park to harass Mr. Bonds. Barry Bonds has NEVER tested positive for using illegal growth horomones, EVER. Secondly, steroid use will not increase ones ability to hit homeruns, it is timing and bat speed. So Hank Aaron, it would be a travesty if you are not out on the field to shake Barry's hand on the day he smashes your record of 755 homeruns.
Now, my thoughts on the game I love. Baseball was not invented by Abner Doubleday. As usual in that time period white people would take something already in existance, add something on to the existing element and then credit themselves for "discovering" the prexisting element. Batos was played on the island of Cuba as far back as the 1700's. The game was played with a "batey" a ball made from resin and leaves. The "batear" would hit the ball with a rounded tree branch, and run to the first of two bases used in the game. By 1845 Alexander J. Cartwright founded the Knickerbockers team in New York, (coincedently knickerbockers are the pants worn in the game of baseball, though the players are tending to wear their pants in the line of crickett players of late) the Knickerbockers were the first team ever formed and Cuba was the first land to welcome the game. Let us not forget that the aboriginals on the Caribbean Islands and the American main land north and south are Black people, and the inventors of Batos.
In 1974, 33% of Black kids played baseball, by 2007 only 7% play. In the 1980's the game of basketball was almost dead, I can remember on the West Coast the championship games were being televised as a taped game, 11:30pm at night. With the advent of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, the loosning of some the rules and the reinstating the dunk, the game got new life, at the same time the NFL was searching for a way to increase attendance and in the long run raise ticket prices. Along comes Dan Fouts, Don Coryell and the San Diego Chargers and "Air Coryell" to the National Football league. Dan Fouts had a core of receivers starting with John Jefferson, then Wes Chandler, Charlie Joiner and Kellen Winslow. Together they amassed 24,000 yards from 1978 to 1983 in the air. Air Coryell took the game from primarly a running game to a passing game. This team averaged a whopping 28 points per game, this generated excitment and fueled the change in the game to charge more for game tickets and moved the NFL into the heaven of being "America's game" and pushing "America's greatest pass time" baseball to the side.
Baseball itself may have fueled the drive for the NFL's glory. In 1974 when Hank Aaron was breaking the homerun record Lou Brock set the single season stolen base record at 118 and in 1982 Ricky Henderson stole a mighty 130 bases in a single season. Baseball being affectionatly known as "America's greatest pass time", and the illegitimate belief that Abner Doubleday was the white creator of this game were being usurped by the Blacks playing in the league and this is what I believe sparked the change.
By now the Oakland Raiders and the San Diego Chargers were leading the NFL in won games and the quick strike offense. Then comes Dan Marino and the Miami Dolphins playing a similar offense. This set up a need for faster wide receivers and defensive backs to defend against them. The colleges and universities put on a serious recruiting rush, scouring Black neighborhoods and public schools where the enrollment was primarly Black students to fill the much needed wide receiver/defensive back rolls. This seemed to place in the minds of the Black youth that football was a way to get out of the "ghetto". Baseball attendance soon fell off and began to fall into a tail spin suffering the same possible fate as basketball a few years before. I feel Major League baseball, after the Ricky Henderson's and Vince Colman's of the day no longer filled the seats reached out to do two things. (1) Put white men back in the game and (2) create a exciting game much as the NFL and the NBA did, taking baseball from small ball, hit and runs/run and hit tactics to the long ball. Homerun fever.
Major League baseball knew they would have to slow the game down in order to make white men prominent in the game once again and install the homerun as the highlight rather than the stolen base. Haiti was the place where baseball's were made, that contract was taken from Haiti and sold to a country in Central America and homeruns increased even rumors of "fixed" baseballs were circulated. Black kids no longer imagined themselves as basball players and many felt and may feel it is a white man's game. Young Black boys no longer signed up for little league, and I witnessed many little league fields empty during basball season, this seems to be part of the demise of Black players in the Major Leagues, the interest in baseball is suffering. The other fact is Major League Baseball does not put efforts into creating excitment in the hearts and minds of "inner city" kids. Is there a possibility what Gary Sheffield says it true? As I write this I can say most of the Latin ball players in the Majors are not U.S. born, as this my lend credence to what Mr. Sheffield says that (I paraphrase here) that Black American's are more likely to speak up about inequealities...I think this could be a point as Latin people born and raised here in the U.S. are much more likely to react to situations in pretty much the same way as their Black counterparts, since we often live in the same neighborhoods, go to the same schools and live under the same conditions.
Unfortunately, many Black Americans do not understand the idea of us being all one Black people, so when they see an Andrew Jones from Curacao, or David Ortiz from the Dominican Republic they do not see themselves. There are 72 U.S. born Black basball players in the league at this time and 192 non U.S. Born baseball players in the league as of this date. This may be due in part to a lack of participation of Black Americans but surely not a lack of talent.
Best talent in the leagues right now are Black U.S. born players; Prince Fielder, first baseman for the Milwaukee Brewers. Homerun King Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants and Willie Harris of the Atlanta Braves and Juan Pierre of the Los Angeles Dodgers only to name a few. These are all outstanding talents and I pray the can bring about a mind change in the Black youth of the U.S. concerning our game of baseball.
Reader Comments (4)
They do, buts its a modified form of baseball...Softball, but there is nothing soft about the ball and the women pitch the ball in a manner that is better for the arm Men play softball as well and its a very big sport. I played for several years and in fact Puerto Rico just came to play in a championship tournament here in the Atlanta area.
Nuff Resprct!! And thank you!