Are the Redbirds Color Blind or just have a lack of Color

There was an article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch earlier in the week regarding the lack of African Americans on the St. Louis Cardinals. As an avid fan, I hadn’t really noticed until I read the article. Although the Cardinals have had Adron Chambers on the team at various times throughout the season, there are no African American(Black) players on the 25 man active roster. The article also alluded to the fact that there were also fewer African American fans lately showing up for games.

In my opinion, there are several reasons for this; the least of which is baseball ignoring the issue. Could Major League Baseball do more to address this? Of course and I think if enough owners and players echo this sentiment, MLB will take a closer look. But, this isn’t just MLB’s problem and in my opinion, not their fault.

As a kid growing up in the Midwest, I played sandlot baseball several times a week. We either played in someone’s backyard or in a vacant lot. And it didn’t matter if we had nine player on each team. We would play if we had at least a batter and a pitcher. We would use a rubber ball most often as if we lost it in the weeds or bushes, it was cheaper to replace. And I played little league baseball for a couple  years and tried out for my high school baseball team. And I was what was considered a “nerd” at the time. So, I’m sure many of my friends would play daily for hours at a time.

Baseball, in my opinion is one of the more difficult sports overall. And with latch key kids, smaller yards, friends who live further apart and video games, kids just aren’t playing baseball like they did 40-50 years ago. Another factor is there is equipment needed if young boy decides to really pursue the sport. And sometimes, in the case of African American boys, they are many times in a one parent household and just don’t have the financial means to pursue baseball. Its simpler and cheaper to get a cheap basketball and find a goal or a cheap football and toss it around.

I haven’t conducted any actual research into this but, I think baseball is similar to golf, tennis, hockey and gymnastics in that, its takes more financial resources usually than basketball or football. In all the sports mentioned, there is a marked absence of African Americans in these sports. I think Lou Brock said it best when he stated, “…if there were more baseball academies, we would have more African Americans in baseball”. And I think he’s correct in that assessment. That is one reason why Latin American players are so numerous in the major leagues. There are many of those academies in the Latin America community. In fact, Carlos Beltran owns at least one in his country.

So, maybe each major league team can invest in a baseball academy in their city at the very least. Academies for not just African Americans but, any kids interested in pursuing the sport.

So, I for one, am not bothered too much by the fact that the Cardinals are currently without an African American. I think circumstances have dictated that fact and they are just looking at the best players available. And while I totally agree that it is something that should be examined in all of baseball, I’m not about to stop being a member of Cardinal Nation because there are no African American or black players. By the way, I am black and I wrote this blog and also do a regular podcast about the Cardinals. I consider myself a diehard Cardinal fan and proud of it.

Thanks for reading. Go Cards!