The declining percentage of African-American baseball players and fans has been a topic of conversation for Major League Baseball in recent years. Comedian, actor and director Chris Rock believes he knows why.
On HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, Rock said the sport of baseball is "old-fashioned and stuck in the past," which is why it's a turn off to blacks. Rock, who is a big New York Mets fan, recalls the days of the 1986 World Series team that featured African-American players such as Dwight Gooden, Daryl Strawberry, Kevin Mitchell and Mookie Wilson.
Four African-Americans on one team is unheard of now. The percentage of blacks in the league has declined to 8.3% (an average of two per team) as of 2014, compared to 19% back in the 1980s. He also noted the World Series champion San Francisco Giants didn't have a single African-American on their roster in 2014, and neither did the St. Louis Cardinals.
Rock then elaborated on his original point:
"You got the white-haired, white guy announcers; you've got cheesy, old organ music at the games. I mean, where's the Beats by Dre? And every team is building a bull sh-t fake antique stadium that supposed to remind you of the 'good ol' days.'
"Guess what? Black people don't like to look back. Throwback Thursday is about as far back as black people like to go."
You can view everything Rock had to say below:
Major League Baseball created a task force last year to address the decline of African-Americans in the sport as both fans and players. Detroit Tigers president and CEO Dave Dombrowski is the chairman of the task force, which aims to focus on "the myriad issues influencing on-field diversity at all levels of baseball." Hall of Famer Frank Robinson, who is an African-American, is also on the force.
However, it will likely be difficult to find a definitive answer. Some reasons that have been proposed in the past to explain the African-American decline include: baseball is too slow; it possesses fewer recognizable black stars; the possibility of spending years in the minors before reaching the majors is unappealing; it has become a sport for the rich; and even for kids it's too demanding with all the travel and games.
"I don't care about any of this as a black guy. I care about this as a baseball fan," Rock added. "We don't really need baseball, but baseball needs us. The fact is, black America decides what's hot and what young people get excited about ... you lose black America, you lose young America."
Studies have shown baseball fans are getting older and older, which is a cause for concern in terms of securing a youthful audience to preserve the sport's fan base for years to come. Rock does have a point, but perhaps the MLB should be worried about all races and not just African-Americans. The black population (those who identify themselves as only black or African-American) in the United States is just 41.7 million (13.2%), according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The black population is certainly a cause for concern, but baseball should also focus their efforts on the Caucasian (77.7%) and Hispanic (17.1%) populations to further attract young viewers and look out for the future of the sport.
But then again, the league broke its attendance record for the first two weekends of the 2015 season, so there's a lot of conflicting evidence when we talk about baseball beginning to die. Let's also not forget that commissioner Rob Manfred is working on speeding up the game and creating a more entertaining atmosphere at major league parks.
There's no telling what will happen in the future, but it's clear the MLB and the sport of baseball have some work to do.
