There is a very good documentary about Reggie Jackson on Netflix. I watched this show last night and the opennessĀ and honesty I saw from Jackson made me see the guy in a much different light than I had before.
When he was playing, I considered him a showoff although he was a great power hitter. I thought he was too angry and controversial. But until you see the reasons for that kind of behavior, you really do not understandĀ the person.
It may seem like a long time ago, but up into the 70’s, the south was still segregated. Being a black ballplayer in the south was not easy. Jackson could not eat in the same restaurant asĀ his teammates or sleep in the same hotel, and this even after he was in the majors.
And you would have to say he was working for maybe the cheapest, well at least most frugal owner in the game at the time, Charlie Finley.
Finley did not pay any of his stars, not the whites or the blacks. His three straight World Championship teams were loaded with great players. And all of them were underpaid.
Jackson led the league in homers one year and got cut 2,500 hundred dollars! But when free agency came along, everything for Finley changed. And I had forgotten that they had a free agent draft that year.
The first team to draft Jackson was the Expos. He had offers from several teams. But the Yankees and their owner, George Steinbrenner, were trying to regain the franchise’s former glory. Reggie ended up signing for 5 years and 3 million dollars.
Well, times have changed. In the documentary, Jackson discusses black athletes in sports with Hank Aaron and Dr. J. Julius Irving. They discuss how some blacks were more vocal than others and that inspired others.
Jackie Robinson let his play do his talking. But when he spoke after throwing out the ceremonial first pitch of game 2 of the 72 World Series, he said he would only be satisfied when he looked at the third base coaching line and saw a black face managing a team. He died nine days later.
But there were plenty of other black athletes who spoke their minds freely. Jim Brown, the NFL Hall of Famer was one. Bill Russell, the Celtic great was another. And in time, so was Jackson.
Reggie and Billy Martin though did not get along in New York. That would never really change, but Martin was happy he had him when the Yankees beat the Dodgers in the 77 series.
But the question remains, why do young black athletes choose to play sports other than baseball? I think one of the reasons has to be that it is a shorter path to the professional ranks in football or basketball.
Some basketball players have joined the NBA right out of high school, or right after their second year of college ball.
Football players can opt for the draft after 3 years in school if I remember right. I would think the average minor league stay in baseball is longer. You find our much faster in the other two sports if you are good enough to be a pro.
I think there are other reasons such as the cost of equipment. You can practice basketball all by yourself as long as you have a hoop and a ball.
Cost aside, kids just want the instant gratification and do not want to have to toil in the farm systems for years. The Dodgers used to have more black players than any other team.
You look now, and the only ones on the major league roster are Betts, Heyward and Jackson. And there are not a bunch on the minor league teams.
Reggie, who was such a part of the Yankees for so many years, now is an advisor to the owner of the Astros. He and some other prominent blacks are working with MLB teams to restore interest in the game in the inner cities. LA already has a program like that based in Compton.
There have been some advances, that is true. Bill White worked in the commissioner’sĀ office for years. But currently there are no blacks on the executive level of MLB.
There have been a lot of coaches, and some advanced to be managers. MLB right now features Dusty Baker, and Dave Roberts as the only two who are black. There are a couple who are Latino’s. But MLB still has more white managers than managers of color.
Frank Robinson was the first. Some have managed a long time, Baker, Don Baylor, Ron Washington, Robinson. But some, like Larry Doby, managed only one season or less.
For whatever reason though, the number of black players continues to dwindle. So far, it shows no sign of changing anytime soon.
Just back from the OKC Dodgers vs Sacramento River Cats AAA. OKC scored a run in the 9th to break a 4-4 tie. Jahmai Jones hit a one-out double. Drew Avans plopped a single into LF and Jones took 3rd. Michael Busch hit a deep fly into CF to score Jones on a sac fly. Nick Robertson struck out the side in the bottom of the 9th for the save.
The offensive star of the night was Jonny DeLuca. He homered twice, doubled, and singled. Although on this night, he was not very good defensively. He misplayed two balls into a double and a triple. I donāt know if he could not see the ball off the bat.
Mark Washington, Gus Varland, and Tayler Scott also looked good. Even though Garland gave up a run, one of the plays that DeLuca misplayed was a triple. Varland got two outs, but with Matt Beaty at the plate, Gus uncorked a WP to score the tying run. He struck out Beaty to end the inning.
William Cuevas, OKC starting pitcher, walked the first two batters and then retired the next 10 batters before he walked another. He gave up a double to Jacob Nottingham that scored the run on a very close play at the plate.
Here are DeLucaās HRs.
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OKC had 10 hits, 4 doubles and 2 HRs. Besides Jahmai Jones and Jonny DeLuca, Devin Mann and Justin Yurchak hit back to back doubles to score a run.
DeLuca completed his 10th game. 46 PA, 43 AB, .326/.370/.651/1.021, 3 doubles, 1 triple, 3 HRs, 7 runs, 12 RBIs, 3 BB, 8 K, 2 SB. A great start to AAA. His .344 BABIP is probably not sustainable.
They went to the Dominican Bear.
āI think for now we just have to keep running him out there and expect better resultsā.
Roberts on Syndergaard.
Ok, that sounds like a good plan.
.198, .233, .241, .208, 214, .197
From the box score. The bottom of the lineup
3 for 14 WRISP. Not that it mattered in this game.
But itās ok. We still score a lot of runs most of the time so we can just run āem out there and expect better results.
Weāll find a way.
Blame it on the black star
Blame it on the falling sky
Blame it on the satellite that leads me home
Reggie was actually traded by Oakland to Baltimore. After spending a year in Baltimore, he elected free agency, and thats when the the Yankees signed him.
Why donāt African-Americans choose baseball? Well Basketball wasnāt very popular back in the day, but sure is now and a pays a lot of money. Football has become the most popular sport in America. and as you stated in your article, it takes much longer to become a money-making professional in baseball.
If you have great, athletic ability,it transfers to basketball and football much easier. Baseball not only takes athletic ability, but a set skill that takes a long time to develop
I agree Bear, itās not gonna change anytime soon as far as blacks from the US playing baseball
Iāve heard some radicals out there say that the reason there arenāt more blacks playing baseball is the lack of black coaches and managers. The Al Sharptonās of the world will always try to stir up trouble. Thatās how they make a living.
Singing the Blue, you asked me about Muncy after he hit a couple of homeruns. I haven’t heard much from you about Muncy for a while.
This is a sore spot for the league too. Theyāve thrown money at the problem, but there are so many factors.
Kershaw get’s through 5 but once again the long ball bites him in the ass.
Not to not pick Bear but I think Kenny Williams of the White Sox and Dana Brown of the Astros would be surprised they are not black mlb executives.
in regards to fewer blacks in the majors, I think a part of it is the year round travel teams. In the past the best athletes were 2, 3 or 4 sports letterman. Now days with travel teams the best athletes play the same sort all year long. I remember Vin almost always talking about a player was a multi sport star in high school. Now Joe mentions it every so often. A lot of high school coaches donāt want their players playing other sports due to injury concerns. They also want the kids that play year round.
This team strikes out way too much. Nuff said. Stop swinging for a HR on every pitch and every count. Put the freaking ball in play.
I stumbled upon this article on Joc’s winter workout.
https://www.knbr.com/2023/03/17/joc-pederson-and-austin-slaters-winter-school-with-barry-bonds/
Too bad he had a tender wrist followed by a HBP that has not allowed him to showoff whatever he learned last winter.
Stone and Outman are two of my favorite Dodgers.
They both need a trip to OKC as they are making it harder for us to win games in which they participate. They’ll be back, but for now neither one belongs on a MLB roster.
Grove seems ready to go and can replace Stone for now. If we need still another starter (injury or ineptitude) let’s see what Knack can do. Throw everyone against the wall (figuratively speaking) and see who sticks.