What in the world is happening to professional baseball? A recent study found that black American players comprised 6.2% of the players on the MLB opening day rosters. You might say, “So?” I did. Apparently, that is the wrong answer. There is a push on to recruit more black American players into professional baseball.

There is a nonprofit organization working to increase the number of black American baseball players in professional baseball.

A recent study from The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at Central Florida found Black U.S. players represented just 6.2% of players on MLB opening day rosters, down from last year’s previous record low of 7.2%. Both figures are the lowest recorded in the study since it began in 1991, when 18% of players were Black. Last year’s World Series was the first since 1950 without a U.S.-born Black player.

There are tangible reasons to believe the percentage of Black players might be on the upswing soon.

Four of the first five players picked in last summer’s amateur draft were Black for the first time ever. Those four were among the hundreds who had participated in diversity initiatives such as the MLB Youth Academy, DREAM Series and the Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) program. MLB has also pledged $150 million in a 10-year partnership with the Players Alliance. The nonprofit organization of current and former players works to increase Black involvement at all levels.

Let me say upfront that I’m a big ole Houston Astros fan. If there is an Astros game playing, it’s on at my house. If you look at the roster for any Astros game, you’ll see that a large number of the players are people of color. Apparently it isn’t enough that there are so many black and brown players on the team, though, because most are originally from another country – in the case of the Astros, they are mostly from Venezuela, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic. The Astros won the World Series against the Phillies in 2022 and the complaint is that none of the players were American black players. I wonder if Jill Biden noticed that little statistic, since she’s a big Phillies fan. I heard absolutely nothing about that at the time. When I came across this story explaining how the MLB is working on recruiting more black baseball players from American high schools and colleges, I had no idea there was a problem.

As a fan, I don’t care what color the players on my favorite team are. Sorry. Not sorry. The main requirement should be talent and how the player can fit in to benefit the team as a whole. Black Americans are about 13% of the total American population. To concentrate on a minority population in a major sport’s recruitment efforts smacks of affirmative action. Whatever happened to merit? It seems that these recruitment programs have been underway for several years. The players in these programs are starting to hit draft-eligible age.

There are several black former MLB players in Phoenix to help with the combine taking place. They are pointing out that baseball is an expensive sport for young players coming up in high school, for example. There are travel leagues that give young players exposure to talent scouts and it is expensive for families to give that opportunity to their sons.

Simply put, developing a big-league ballplayer is usually expensive. There’s the equipment, the costs of joining a travel team and the pricey individual instruction that is sometimes needed — expenses than can easily total thousands of dollars per year. There’s also the time commitment: weekends completely filled with two and sometimes three games each day.

“We took a lot of videos of other players for their parents who couldn’t make it,” said Shaun Rose, Zion’s dad.

Chris Young, who played in the MLB for 13 seasons and was an All-Star with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2010. He likes the diversity initiatives but the financial burden on families of young players will never go away completely. “I don’t think baseball is going to get any less expensive anytime soon,” the 39-year-old Young said. “It’s an expensive game. It was an expensive game even back when I was a kid.” He hopes more black athletes will choose baseball over football or basketball. “We have to make it worth their while,” Young said. “If you’re getting guys like that — I don’t want to overspeak — but you’re getting athletes like Mike Trout. Then it’s just up to each team’s player development.”

I get it. Young athletes invest a lot of time in pursuing their dreams of playing professional sports and it is a sacrifice for their families. But that is across the board, not just baseball. It’s all sports, though, and all pursuits of greatness. A child in pursuit of a career in music, or martial arts, or the culinary arts all face financial challenges. What isn’t good is to assume that just because a young person is black, their family can’t find a way to make it happen. I’m reminded of the quote GW Bush often used – the bigotry of low expectations. It’s kind of racist, right?

Anyway, now about 15 percent of the players featured in the Phoenix combine preceding July’s draft are black. The struggle is to appeal to black American young men. For years, the appeal has been to be a part of the NFL or the NBA. Maybe the MLB’s focus on utilizing social media will help. Signing bonuses are increasing for many recruits. Many professional fields use financial incentives to increase recruiting. That’s fine. This diversity push just sounds a little too affirmative-actiony to me. Quotas aren’t good. Don’t mess with baseball, please.