African Americans in baseball

When my son joined his current tournament team he was one of only two white kids on a baseball team. Every other kid was either hispanic or black. We come from a mostly rural white community, they come from a inner city mostly minority community. But who cares, the kids certainly don't. Our families have become great friends and enjoy sharing each others cultures.

Its interesting to have inner city kids come up to the mountains where we live and be scared of animals or the quiet moonlit nights. On the other had I like my son to go visit them occasionally to get a taste of the inner city.

Over the last few years we have added a few white kids and lost a few black kids to basketball and football, but nobody worries about it. Its seems to be a matter of personal preference.

Saying we need more blacks in baseball is like saying their needs to be more white reggae music groups. Why worry about it, just enjoy it for what it is.

Dad04 where in my post did I say that black kids wont work? Where did I say that football players do not work hard? I coached football for many years. My oldest son plays football in college. Baseball takes alot more time in order to master the basics of the game. Catching , throwing and hitting verses tackling and blocking. We will disagree on this thats fine. But I did not say at anytime that black kids are not in baseball because they do not want to work. And I never said that football players do not work hard either. Baseball is a skill game that takes much longer to master to play at the HS level than football. There are a ton of kids playing HS football that never played the sport untill their HS years. How many kids are playing HS baseball that have never played baseball before HS?

Coach this is my last post on the subject. You said

quote:

Could it just be that football and basketball are the type of sports where an athletic kid can excell without a long process of working at the game?

Clearly you imply black kids like to excell without working at it. What else could you possibly mean?

quote:

Its takes time to learn how to catch , throw properly and of course hit a baseball. Demographics play a huge part in this.

Coach
Please explain this statement about demographics? This could easily be taken as having blatently racial stereotypical implications. I took it that way.

Do kids go out for football that have never put on pads? Of course they do. There are 250 pounders that are not allowed to play until then due to size. Not many regular size kids contribute much that have never played though.

Do players make competitive high school basketball teams that have never dribbled a ball? No, they do not. Most kids on high school teams have dribbled a ball every day since they were 6 or 7. If that's not working hard, then what is?

alot of good points

1 more

think of where the kids would be if there was this much impetus/emotion on cultural representation in academics

Bee-Good point.

Bee>:

I agree with Moc1...

Bee-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L point!

Bee...The No-Pass, No-Play Rule has helped somewhat in that regard. But I agree that there should be just as much if not more emphasis on academics as there is in athletics. Great point!

even tho our "sirited" debates on hsweb bring out various opinions - we might be considered intelectual compared to some

just heard the Mayor of New Orleans on the news

"get all these Mexican workers out'a MY city"



.

Bee>:

If he could only find those busses...

quote:

just heard the Mayor of New Orleans on the news

"get all these Mexican workers out'a MY city"

I've listened to the guy speak numerous times since the storm, and while he has made tactical mistakes, this comment seems unusual.

What were the issue behind the statement?

Actually - it isnt really funny to alot of folks that they have this guy in a position of responsibility.

To say he made tactical mistakes is akin to saying that Mike Brown didnt do a great job.
A very kind evaluation of complete and total incompetence. IMO.

rz1:

Unusual? More like his usual stuff.

How thick of a news filter do they have ringing Madison anyway?!

rz1

Isnt that a racial slur ?? I bet he wont be reprimanded

gotwood,

I think this site has some members who have watched a natural disaster effect their lives personally.

I dont think that the Mayor of New Orleans is probably a good subject to discuss long term. JMHO - but some things just arent funny.

Again - IMO - if we want to have fun - perhaps this subject can be put on the back burner - and we can goof on the moose or something.

Just a suggestion.

itsinthegame:

You're absolutely right. That topic is better suited for some other website.

Just so that it is not misunderstood ...my sympathy goes out to all of my fellow websters that have been either directly or indirectly affected by all of the numerous natural disasters that have afflicted us recently.

I sincerely hope that all of those that have felt the impact are able to return to normal quickly!

Clearly? Obviously not. I'll explain. Demographics culture etc. How many baseball fields do you see in an inner city setting? How many basketball courts do you see? How many basketball courts in yards or hoops nailed to trees do you see? How many kids does it take to play baseball vs basketball? I dont know about your area but around here you can ride down any street and see numerous basketball goals in yards. Every Y has a court with a league. Every Boys Club has a court with a league. When is the last time you saw a group of guys playing a baseball pick up game? How many housing communities have baseball fields? Now how many housing communities have basketball courts? Now as far as saying that clearly I feel that black kids do not want to work hard and so they choose football. Again look at my post I never said that. Clearly. Football is a sport that you can take a kid that has never played before and with some instruction teach him the proper way to tackle and block and if he is willing to be physical he can make an impact very quickly at the HS level. That is a fact. Again I ask you how many kids are playing football in HS that have never played before entering HS? Many. Not just the 250 lb kids. How many kids are playing baseball in HS that have never played baseball before entering HS? I have never seen ONE. Do you actually believe that baseball is a sport that can just be picked up at the HS age? I will not post again on this topic. Black kids are no different than white kids. They work extremely hard at the sport that they are interested in.

It's - - agree completely that politics and emergency management complexities are not relevant to our discussions here

however, neither this nor the Air Force coach topic were ever "humorous",
and the attitude/bias of those in positions of responsibility and leadership were the center of discussion & are relevant

or do standards only apply to coaches, managers, & athletes??
(rhetorical Q)



.