In 2019, the Dodgers didn’t have any black players on the roster. MLB had less than 70 African-Amer players in all. Why?
Oscar Martinez
I was born in the shadow of Dodger Stadium and immediately drenched in Dodger Blue. Chavez Ravine is my baseball cathedral, Vin Scully was the golden voice of summer all my life, and Tommy Lasorda remains the greatest Dodgers manager ever. My favorite things are coffee, beer, and the Dodgers beating the Giants. I also blog about my baseball card hobby at All Trade Bait, All the Time.
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The only color that matters for Guggenheim is green.
I doubt that was the reason, and applying racism to the Dodgers is a pretty wacky claim. The team that broke the color barrier with Jackie Robinson racist>? Seems a little far fetched to me. There are players of color on the Dodgers, and some in the minors. They just had none with MLB level talent. Dodgers non tendered Yimi Garcia. All their other arbitration eligible players received offers.
In some ways it feels like ‘65 again, but I agree with Bear. Not the Dodgers. No way.
Dodgers have had preliminary talks with the White Sox about a deal involving Joc Pederson. The same thing happened last year.
YES!
Racism!
I didn’t think it was possible to have sillier takes than some of Scott’s, but this one by Oscar has quite possibly done it.
It’s hard to follow, poorly researched and even more poorly thought out.
Actually the LA Times wrote an article about this. I would link if I had it in front of me.
https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/story/2019-11-28/dodgers-absence-african-american-players-underscores-ongoing-mlb-issue
There may be a bit of illusory correlation going in here. False association because rare or novel occurrences are more salient and tend to capture attention. The Dodgers and racism? No way. It’s clearly a league wide issue.
The article in question was relevant. Oscar’s words and theories are inane.
Not to sound racist, but it seems that the majority of Afro-American elite athletes tend to lean to football or basketball over baseball, in high school and college. Not many fans go to college and high school baseball games. In football you have TV exposure and the opportunity to be a star. Seems to be a smart move. No wasting time in the minor leagues for 5-6 years. Instant stardom and riches await those who can play at the elite level of football and basketball.
Then when you factor in the number of american kids (majority of which are white) that continue to battle in the baseball minor leagues for years, with the low pay, bus rides and stinky hotels, only to never really get a chance to get to the “big show”. The odds of an Afro-American to be good enough to play Major League Baseball are slim to none, especially with all the elite international players in the mix.
…. this is a very stupid question/accusation . Why an I commenting on it?
Tying racism to the Dodgers makes no sense what so ever. They have been the leader in international signings, were the first to have an Black man play in the majors and had 3 stars of color before any other team had one. I do not know where this idea came from, but it is beyond lame. It has no basis in fact. The Dodgers have players of all types in their system.
Wheeler signs with the Phillies. 5 years 118 million guaranteed money. No way AF was matching that.
Angels signed a 30 year lease extension, then bought the stadium and some land around it, which they plan to develop. So they are locked into Anaheim until 2050. Not clear if the stadium will be torn down, it is now 50 years old, or if they just remodel ala Dodger Stadium, which is the 3rd oldest park in the majors behind Wrigley and Fenway. Then they made a trade with the Orioles picking up starter Dylan Bundy for 4 minor league pitchers.
All that is true but they still have to work around Pujols and his $29-$30 million .4 WAR. (Three year splits actually have him with negative WAR) That kind of money should be able to buy a lot more production. Really. Dumb. Move.