Gary Matthews, a renowned player for the Philadelphia Phillies, was at Memorial Stadium prior to the first game of the 1983 World Series and noticed a great deal of Black talent. Joe Morgan. Eddie Murray. Garry Maddox. Ken Singleton. It was Al Bumbry. Disco Dan Ford. And many more events occurred later that night in Baltimore. Matthews recalled that there was a sizable group of the present. This week, when fans watch the Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies line up to begin the Fall Classic, they will see a very different sight than what they saw last week.
According to 9news Jose Altuve of Houston and Jean Segura of Philadelphia are two of the dozens of Latin players currently contributing to the diversity of lineups in the major leagues. However, for the first time since 1950, which was shortly after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball, there are projected to be no black players born in the United States competing in this year’s World Series.
Statement from the president of Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
The president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, Bob Kendrick, remarked that what he had just seen was “eye-opening.” It comes as a bit of a surprise that in two cities that have significant numbers of people of African American descent, there is not a single Black player. “It lets us know there is definitely a lot of work to be done,” he added, “to create possibilities for Black students to pursue their goal at the highest level.” “It lets us know there is certainly a lot of work to be done.”
Record of blacks in 1947- 1950
Robinson made his debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 and participated in that year’s World Series for the first time. Since then, the only World Series game that did not feature a Black player was the one that took place in 1950 between the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies. Both Houston and Philadelphia will make the announcement of their 26-man rosters many hours before the start of Game 1 on Friday night at Minute Maid Park. Houston is managed by Dusty Baker, who played as an outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1981 and won the World Series with them.
Record of blacks in 1954
Every single club that made it to the World Series from the year 1954, when Willie Mays and the New York Giants played against Larry Doby and Cleveland, to the year 2005, when the Astros did not, had at least one player who was born in the United States of African descent on their roster.
Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds, Lou Brock, Bob Gibson, Rickey Henderson, and Frank Robinson were just a few of the Black greats who dominated the October stage during the course of that half-century. Willie Stargell and Dave Parker were two of the ten black players that helped the Pittsburgh Pirates win the 1979 World Series under the banner “We Are Family.”
The majority of that time period saw baseball’s reign as the preeminent sport in the United States, earning it the title of “national pastime.” Baseball became more expensive throughout the years as travel teams and top showcases became increasingly important, paralleling the rise in popularity of other team sports such as basketball and football. By the time the Dodgers won the World Series in 2020, Mookie Betts, a star for the Los Angeles Dodgers, was the lone Black player in the tournament.
This past summer, the All-Star Game was held at Dodger Stadium, and Betts donned a T-shirt to the game with the following slogan on it: “We need more Black people at the stadium.” But on the field this weekend, despite hopeful indicators and multi-layered efforts by MLB, there will be no runs scored in the World Series for the first time in over seven decades. This will be the first time it has happened since the series began in 1903.
According to Lapchick, who is the principal author for his organization’s yearly reports on diversity hiring policies in sports, there were 7.2% black players on opening day rosters this year. This represented the lowest percentage since the research data was originally gathered in 1991, when 18% of MLB players were Black. This marked a drop from the previous year’s 7.6%, which marked the lowest percentage.
This year was the first time since 1959 that the Philadelphia Phillies did not have any Black players on their opening roster. Before being let go, Roman Quinn, who was a reserve outfielder for the Black team, appeared in 23 games. Michael Brantley, an African-American outfielder, was on the Houston Astros team when they were defeated in the World Series last year. This year, a shoulder injury sustained by Brantley will keep him out of action for the whole season. Josh James, a relief pitcher who is also named Black and is on the 40-man roster for the organization, underwent arm surgery at the beginning of October.
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