Growth of U.S.-born Black baseball players takes root in upstart HBCU programs
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Posted By: S. Moore on May 18, 2023 Fans and supporters – even in MLB suites – are celebrating the upstart National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) baseball programs at three historically Black colleges and universities, Dillard University and Philander Smith College of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference and Wilberforce University of the Mid-South Conference. This level of baseball – where some teams can’t even afford a tarp to protect their fields from rain — is the seedling planted by the baseball gods to help recruit and develop a new generation of U.S.-born Black baseball players. The seasons are over for Philander Smith in Arkansas and Wilberforce in Ohio but not without great fanfare: The Philander Panthers opened their inaugural season with a no-hitter, and Wilberforce might have begun establishing the template for building an MLB partnership with an HBCU, with an eye toward integrating baseball on the field – and in the front offices. Meanwhile, Dillard, located in New Orleans, played in the NAIA regional championship tournament on Tuesday seeking a shot at a national title. The team lost in the opening round to McPherson College 9-1. The success and continued growth of these HBCU teams is critical this year, as the MLB began spending its $150 million, 10-year investment in diversifying the game. The plan was already in place before the announcement in October 2022 that the World Series would be played without U.S.-born Black baseball players for the first time in 72 years. That sobering news followed a season in which Opening Day rosters in 2022 included only 7.2% U.S.-born Black players, down from 18% in 1991, according to the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. That number dipped slightly, to 6.2% for Opening Day 2023, according to statistics MLB provided. MLB chief baseball development officer Tony Reagins doesn’t have a magic number he wants to reach, but he believes the numbers will improve with programs MLB and the MLB Players Association (MLBPA) have implemented, and with new partnerships yet to be forged. “I feel good about where we are headed,” Reagins said. “I’m fortunate to be able to see a lot of the Black players participating at a much higher level.” He noted four of the top five players drafted last year participated in MLB diversity programs, most of them since they were 13 or 14 years old. “I get to see these kids year over year, and there are more of them,” Reagins said, “and they are getting better and better every year. … The opportunities are beginning to pay off.” Some of baseball’s high-profile diversity initiatives are well known, such as Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI), MLB Youth Academies and the Andre Dawson Classic, but others are new. The inaugural HBCU Swingman Classic, scheduled for July 7 during MLB All-Star Week in Seattle, will feature 50 HBCU Division I players showcasing their talents. MLB, the Players Association and Ken Griffey Jr., an ambassador for the MLB-MLBPA Youth Development Foundation, announced the event in December. It will take place in T-Mobile Park, where Griffey played with the Mariners. MLB’s role in the development of NAIA teams grew during the 2023 season. With U.S.-born Black baseball players already hard to find in Division I, even at HBCUs, it made sense to grow players at the NAIA level, where 80% to 90% of the players are U.S.-born and Black. Those numbers describe the Dillard team, which is playing for its first championship, in its first season. Dillard’s Bleu Devils earned their automatic bid to the NAIA regionals in late April by winning the inaugural Hope Credit Union GCAC Baseball Championship tournament, which was played at the Hank Aaron Sports Academy in Jackson, Mississippi. SOURCE Andscape If you enjoyed this article, Join HBCU CONNECT today for similar content and opportunities via email! |
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