it goes back to youth baseball. a kid have to feel welcome.  not just because his athletic ability.  here are some situations .  three blacks want to play baseball ninth graders two are playing basketball the other will not start until the other two finish basketball..he has had experience with baseball and their little mind games to belittle you.  college to get on a team is very difficult even small d2 univ.  comments such as didn"t want any coon talk… hit a bump in highway every one wakes up what happen? oh just a black hitchiker.  you are automaticaly thrown curvballs.  blacks can`t hit them.

TOC:
First, I dont know if the middle aged black men who “talk about their days of playing against the racist all-white team across town” ended up better off, but I do know that US baseball was better off.  Black kids weren’t motivated to play baseball by Jim Crow.  They just loved to play.  Its just that in the non-South area of the country where I am, Jackie Robinson breaking the MLB color barrier didn’t integrate the neighborhoods over night so the racism and tension was still lurking in youth baseball in the 60s and 70s.  I mentioned “war stories” about black youth baseball, because black kids and to a great degree their parents see Jackie Robinson and the Negro Leagues as irrelevant “old fogey” history. 

You haven’t heard arguments lamenting the loss of white suburban kids to soccer because in fact youth baseball among whites is still strong and vibrant.  There is no abandonment of baseball, but more of a spreading out. The drop in numbers of African-Americans playing baseball is so dramatic that is constitutes in my mind an abandonment.

As I said, I think for the the African-American community and the United States it is a great loss. There were a number of years where the Negro Leauge all-star games and playoffs drew bigger crowds than the segregated white professional leauge.

Toc, I dont know if you are an American.  Perhaps those of us who are troubled by this occurance (way beyond a trend at this point) are simply like odd voices lamenting the demise of the vinyl lp.  But I think for those who love the game it isn’t good for American baseball, and for those concerned about the long term health of US society, the segregation of such a popular sport must be seen as disturbing, even if its meaning is murky.
 
Aside: I think US football programs, starting a young ag,e have more “hard work” than baseball.  The practices are like a bloody boot camp.  Just not my cup of tea.

You know, living as I do in Mexico, I see a lot of Norte Americanos coming down here full of opinions of what Mexicans should do, how they should behave an how they “should adopt patience, determination and hard work—and that “would well serve (them) who adopted those principals.”

Usually, after listening to 5 minutes of this nonsense, I ask if they are down here doing missionary work.  My point is, are young black kids at fault for not choosing to play baseball? Can they not learn “lessons about life” in other sports? Were the middle aged black men who “talk about their days of playing against the racist all-white team across town.” better off because they were motivated to play baseball by Jim Crow.

What is the point the author trying to get at? and, More importantly, why is he trying to get at it. I must point out that I have not heard these sort of arguments lamenting the loss of white suburban kids to soccer?  I wonder why?

James Harris has great insight. Great article

P.P.S.
Yes, we should care!  The disapearance of baseball from African-American conciousness strips away an important piece of history and identity. African-Americans didn’t just appear on the American societal stage after they were given civil rights by white liberals.  Our black families and communities had strong cohesion and identity of success.  That identity included a passionate love of baseball for over 75 years, playing baseball, watching baseball.  Its a shame for us to abandon the community traditions of our past so heedlessly, and it weekens the African-American community and the national identity by erasing one the the United States’  historical race-transcending passions.

But perhaps I’m too emotional.

P.S. some of the comments seems to forget that youth baseball is actually very exciting to play and allows a wonderful building of comraderie amongst the players and the fans(family) because of the pace and setting. I think too the other major sports require high levels of patience and skill building too - just not in the early years like baseball does.

I’m guessing one of the main reasons my black son likes baseball so much (to the exclusion of other sports) is that since he was 2 it was the one activity he could always get me to do rain or shine, with emphasis on the rain, indoors or out.  And I haven’t stopped playing with him in the Little League “off-season.”

I think a large part of the decline of African-American youth participation in baseball lies with the parents and adults in the African-American community.  Right now football is king and the way a majority of adult black sports fans in the US talk about football you would think it was a gladiator sport created by and for black men.  Basketball comes in a less enthusiastic 2nd, with baseball as an after-thought for discussion by eccentric late middle aged black men who talk about their days of playing against the racist all-white team across town.

Also, perhaps African-American culture has abandoned its love of the Anansi “trickster” quality in its heroes in favor of the gladiator type warrior model.  My son loves this trickster part of baseball.  And its a quality you still see a lot of in Latin American players, although I suspect the “acadamies” run by major league teams iron a lot of the playfulness out of their charges care in favor of solid rote fundamentals. (not such a bad thing, but…)

One sad thing is that a whole bunch of athletic kids are find themselves shut out of football and basketball because of their lack of brawn or height, just at the age when their lack of baseball foundation begins to shut them out of baseball.  My son is just the type of medium sized athletic boy who can find a happy home in baseball .

I think maybe the RBI program needs to start getting African-American parents and kids involved in baseball several years before the age of 12 if it hopes to have a significant impact.

I agree with the author that those aspects of baseball—patience, determination and hard work—would well serve anyone who adopted those principals.  Our culture rewards the 10-second sound bite.  When one can find glory within 24 seconds, why would anyone aspire to a reach a 3-2 count, with several foul balls thrown in for good measure?

In the late 80s I spent some time in Nicaragua, where baseball is quite popular.  I don’t think players from outside the United States necessarily have a greater work ethic or appreciate the subtleties of baseball (though they may) more than the youth of this country; they may have fewer opportunities to participate in other sports, therefore they thrive in baseball.

If we are to inspire youth with principals for success and a good work ethic, I think we should take the focus away from sports. Take the principals of baseball—patience, determination and hard work—and show them how applying those principals to everyday tasks pays off. 

The brass ring is attainable for many.  A gold medal is not.

There is no greater baseball fan than myself. My favorite players, after 50 years of watching baseball: Willie Mays, Pedro Martinez and now young David Wright.  Most admired in Baseball, Felipe Alou and I must admit Omar Minaya is moving up the list.

I am an old Irish Guy from Queens, now living in Mexico.  As far as the handwringing in this article is concerned, all I can say is: Who cares?  This phenomenon has nothing to do with race nor is it pregnant with any greater meaning than peoples preferences change, and from my observations they go in cycles.

The flipside of this argument is the reverse predjudice idea that a guy like Minaya is part of a Dominican plot to take over baseball.  See the internet boards if you don’t believe me.

Also, Stern did a phenomenal job of marketing Basketball, a very sick game when he took over the NBA, though I never see this mentioned when the blacks are not playing baseball observations are raised.

Baseball will survive, African Americans will survive and at the rate the DR is producing excellent players, maybe the “Plot” will succeed. I believe everyone would be better off if we allowed people decide what they prefer. Period.

James Harris is a thoughtful writer - with passion. Baseball is one of many activities that - with the critical component of the mentoring of responsible & caring adults - can enhance the lives of all our children. Let us all pray that our country will soon end its cultural free fall and redirect our common power towards loving our children, instead of letting them be exploited, then casting them into jail for really doing not much worse than not finding the extraordinary inner strength needed to reject the cultural and societal pressures that poison them.

Harris is realistic in his belief that baseball itself probably wont change the mind of young Blacks, but the principles of the game could teach millions how to approach life. 

As an older Black man, I must say that during civil rights and shortly after, there was a cohesive quality about the Black community that is now long gone.  Was it baseball? No.  Was it a result of a constant struggle? Probably. 

If we were more willing to be introspective and honest, we’d realize we haven’t outgrown baseball; we’ve simply grown closer to commercialism and cheap thrills.

Baseball, football, basketball, soccer, Xtreme, whatever, the real problem is not the level of attendance within each, or the trends associated with them, the problem lies within their inherent place in American Culture. That place is a lofty and airy strata wherein our young minds dream. And it is NOT their fault. If we as a culture spent as much time, energy, and MONEY toward building “intellectual pursuit” a platform equal to Professional Sports, maybe more young minds would “attend”.
But alas, a debate, spelling bee, chess turney, literary discussion, or current event competition doesn’t make Sweeps Week a big hit does it?

Smart people are boring to watch, so how do we get kids who don’t yet know they are smart to watch boring smart people? How about we pay them as much to win those types of events as we pay pro sports attendes. Unrealistic, yes, but unfortunately money is our supreme ruler so we must increase our tithe to get ahead. As a sports lover and past player I am sorry to say that pro sports and the financial world it creates has as much to do with the dumbing down of America as anything else.

...

Barkley’s comment about exciting young men toward more intellectual pursuits, and more importantly, the fact about declining college attendance versus the incarceration upswing is the only standout to this piece. Even though I played baseball for 15 years—never pro—and love the game, this is really about how the American Culture views pro sports versus higher education and the potential rewards that come with it—after the requisite hard work.

Sport is God, the other almost ignored.

Unfortunetly it is all part and parcel of the dumbing down of America.

Perhaps Barry Bonds is not the most apt choice as a role model.  Perhaps Bonds’ home run success is less the result of “patience, discipline, and timing” than of more chemical causes.

If blacks show a preference now for basketball over baseball, it may just be free enterprise in operation.  Blacks do well in baseball but they do exceptionally well in the NBA.  That’s where the money is for American blacks, so why not?

Besides, white American youths are also turning away from baseball.  It’s a game for an earlier generation.  If no one had named it “America’s pastime,” would we care?