I didn't know that there are only 3 starting pitchers that are Black in the whole league?
Common ground for Sabathia and Price
Common ground for Sabathia and Price
Baseball's Black Pitchers: Common ground for CC Sabathia and David Price
- Thread starter keysersoze
- Start date
and Lenny Webster is known more as the all-time pinch hits leader, so even brothers have a hard time sticking as catchers. The days of Bob Gibson, Vida Blue and JR Richard (people forget how good he was before he suffered a stroke) are long gone, but hopefully CC and David can start a new trend.
wheres all the niggus who said ____ is black but just from a latin country?
Jeter is actually black too. Well half black anyway
But African Americans, and you do have to differentiate, because there are dozens of black Latino at every position, have been downsized out the league right across the board all over this country. Mainly because we have no real places to play organized baseball in our public schools. You want to play baseball, you have to go to a Catholic school or a private school.
Long time Sports Board posters know my feelings on this already but I'll repeat it for the noobs over here: We've lost our edge in baseball when MLB took Jack Robinson out the "Negro" Leagues. They completely raped those teams and never put ANYTHING into the development of that league whatsoever. THAT is only one reason why baseball participation is so low among our people now.
Not to mention in other areas like musicians
But African Americans, and you do have to differentiate, because there are dozens of black Latino at every position, have been downsized out the league right across the board all over this country. Mainly because we have no real places to play organized baseball in our public schools. You want to play baseball, you have to go to a Catholic school or a private school.
Long time Sports Board posters know my feelings on this already but I'll repeat it for the noobs over here: We've lost our edge in baseball when MLB took Jack Robinson out the "Negro" Leagues. They completely raped those teams and never put ANYTHING into the development of that league whatsoever. THAT is only one reason why baseball participation is so low among our people now.
Not to mention in other areas like musicians
and also you have to play on the traveling teams which cost a grip.
i know i did this.
A very good/timely quote, and an interesting story. "Thanks" for the info.
I should have said African Americans but we all know black = African American ≠ dark Latinos.
As I said in another post similar to this, there is another Black Pitcher that no one's talking about...Edwin Jackson of the Detroit Tigers (He won his sixth game last night).
Absolutely right. Finally got a full time starter's position this year. Bigupps to Jim Leyland for giving him the chance to shine. And let's not forget Dontrelle Willis who is having some problems right now, but was a full time starting pitcher for about the past 5 years. As for Jackson, he's probably not on the author's radar yet. You know how these sportswriters are always a step behind everything
We must remember:
There is no physical or ethnic difference between a black man and a caribbean latino man. They are basically black guys that speak Spanish. That is all. That is the only difference.
They look just like me and you. So I consider latino pitchers black.
There is no physical or ethnic difference between a black man and a caribbean latino man. They are basically black guys that speak Spanish. That is all. That is the only difference.
They look just like me and you. So I consider latino pitchers black.
I remember last year in your MLB keeper league (I knew I wouldn't have time to play this year so I didn't sign up) I traded John Lackey for Edwin Jackson and everyone was
but I knew the kid would be good. Looks like I was a year too early and whoever got my old team (Jackson, Beckett, Chris Carpenter) has a very strong rotation.
I remember last year in your MLB keeper league (I knew I wouldn't have time to play this year so I didn't sign up) I traded John Lackey for Edwin Jackson and everyone was
People might have been laughing but the trade went through right?? I mean if they thought it was so ludacris, then the trade would've gotten vetoed.
As it stands, it still wasn't a good trade at the time. If it was a keeper league (it wasn't), then a case could've been made. But at the time, Jackson hadn't even won a full time starting position and Lackey was a potential all star
Even with his great start this season, it still looked at with some intrepidation. Not many expects it to last past this season. Not that it can't happen, but the odds are against it. Especially if Leyland gets fired
Pedro is a black pitcher 
I believe basketball and economics have taken a tremendous toll on Black baseball.
You can start a pick-up game of basketball with ball; any half-way smooth concrete, asphalt or even dirt surface; and a hoop. The same with football. But, you can't play "baseball" without equipment, the cost of which has gone outta the damn roof. Down south, suitable playing areas for baseball are everywhere but typically in/near black communities, just growing weeds. Find a local gym in those same communities, however, and you'll find more potentially outstanding outfield and pitching prospects than you could dribble at, playing hoops -- but few, if any, that have had any real exposure to baseball to develop that raw talent.
At one point in the south, basketball wasn't played a lot on outdoor surfaces -- too damn hot -- and there were few indoor gyms, with or without air, hence, it easier and cheap to organize baseball. The Civil Rights Movement, however, moved basketball "inside" and, as a consequence, baseball off the field, though I doubt that was the intent. With increased voter participation and the election of more of our own, came more and better indoor facilities AND, air conditioning. AIR made a major difference -- the choice of playing a sport in the hot sun or playing indoors, with air -- was easy.
QueEx
Might be more basketball than economics.
Latinos in all cities, even where there are no playing fields around for miles, organize their kids into little leagues and make sure their kids get to the baseball fields to play. Most of these parents don't have the money to buy the equipment themselves but rather they get local stores to sponsor them (i.e. Primo's Hardware) - I see it all the time.
I've seen this first hand where vans of dozen kids pop out and run onto the baseball field and those kids come from another nearby neighborhood that doesn't have baseball field.
Latinos in all cities, even where there are no playing fields around for miles, organize their kids into little leagues and make sure their kids get to the baseball fields to play. Most of these parents don't have the money to buy the equipment themselves but rather they get local stores to sponsor them (i.e. Primo's Hardware) - I see it all the time.
I've seen this first hand where vans of dozen kids pop out and run onto the baseball field and those kids come from another nearby neighborhood that doesn't have baseball field.
You know I don't dispute any of what you're saying. But I can remember that before we took the "field" (usually an empty lot or playground. In the Albany projects, we played in a big field we call "The Circle"), we played good ole fashioned "stickball" which only consisted of a small rubber spauding ball and a broomstick. Hell, didn't have to even be a spauding, any old ball would do. Sometimes we used the much heavier "sponge"ball. Hell, it didn't even have to be a ball sometimes, just ball something up and throw it and we had ourselves a party....
Home plate was a box drawn on the wall, 1st base was a streetlight, 2nd the manhole cover and a homerun was when you hit one over the fence across the street (we lost more balls on that roof). The strikezone was in the same place for everyone, so if you were tall, you damn sure better learn to crouch down and god help you if you were a midget (we all were basically...being only about 7 or 8 years old). We played this practically all year round before we started playing baseball in the spring and summer when we got a little older. Baseball gloves and bats came later. When we hit 9 or 10 I think.
But even before we played stickball, we played derivatives of baseball we called "punchball" or "slapball". We even played "Kickball" where a pitcher would roll a big soft rubber ball and the batter would kick it far as he could and run the bases (usually trees cause we couldn't go in the street yet). Played this game on the sidewalk which was very narrow, but we made it work. We were also playing basketball on the garbage cans but we played what was basically a form of baseball without much equipment. But the operative word here is "we". Because there would be a whole bunch of us...easily between 15 and 20 children who wanted to play each and every day.
Nowadays, for whatever reasons, it is very difficult to get that many children together in one place all for one purpose without the parents making them and without it turning into something terrible. For whatever reasons, it seems to me our children have no sense of togetherness with each other (unless it's for something negative like drugs). Back then they was no one forcing us to do shit. We just did it. When I was at that age, couldn't wait to finish chores and go outside. Today, a child won't come out the damn house
please forgive the typos.
Last edited:
R.S.,
Your early experiences sound almost exactly like mine. We played baseball (in some form) with every imaginable ball and soda/beer bottle tops, oyster shells, and sometimes stuffed half-pint milk/juice cartons, LOL. When a broom finished sweeping, its handle was just beginning its highest and best use, as a bat.
We played on diamonds, vacant lots, fields, and the burning hot asphalt of city streets. While playing what seemed like thousands of games in the street, we learned how to hit the ball back through the middle -- because if the ball landed in some yards and you didn't have another one, the game would just be over.
Later, we formed our own teams; raised/begged a couple of dollars to buy some caps and matching sox (stirrups); and practically managed ourselves. Sometimes we would get lucky and recruit an adult to be our manager (he had to have a car or truck though, LOL - we wanted to travel). It seems we could always put together enough rag-tag gloves some bats (most repaired with tacks and tape) and whallah -- we were ready to play some serious ball -- and the heat was never a problem (down here along the Gulf Coast you're talking a lot of 95 degrees at 95% relative humidity). We had no A/C at home; none at school; and there were very few places one could go to find A/C to seek relie. Hell, lol, kids were outdoors like forever.
What I see now, however, is just the opposite. A/C everywhere, especially the projects. LOL. You look around on a hot day, few kids to be seen. Drop by the gym, boom, they're hooping it good.
QueEx
Your early experiences sound almost exactly like mine. We played baseball (in some form) with every imaginable ball and soda/beer bottle tops, oyster shells, and sometimes stuffed half-pint milk/juice cartons, LOL. When a broom finished sweeping, its handle was just beginning its highest and best use, as a bat.
We played on diamonds, vacant lots, fields, and the burning hot asphalt of city streets. While playing what seemed like thousands of games in the street, we learned how to hit the ball back through the middle -- because if the ball landed in some yards and you didn't have another one, the game would just be over.
Later, we formed our own teams; raised/begged a couple of dollars to buy some caps and matching sox (stirrups); and practically managed ourselves. Sometimes we would get lucky and recruit an adult to be our manager (he had to have a car or truck though, LOL - we wanted to travel). It seems we could always put together enough rag-tag gloves some bats (most repaired with tacks and tape) and whallah -- we were ready to play some serious ball -- and the heat was never a problem (down here along the Gulf Coast you're talking a lot of 95 degrees at 95% relative humidity). We had no A/C at home; none at school; and there were very few places one could go to find A/C to seek relie. Hell, lol, kids were outdoors like forever.
What I see now, however, is just the opposite. A/C everywhere, especially the projects. LOL. You look around on a hot day, few kids to be seen. Drop by the gym, boom, they're hooping it good.
QueEx
LOL..so air conditioning is the death knell of all outside activities in the summer time. You might have a point there cause if you walk through the neighborhood on a summer afternoon, you'll see very few children on the street. But if you're on the block on a summer evening, the children are everywhere. But the athletes are still out in the park playing basketball. But even if it's hot outside they're still playing. I still think love for the game takes precedence over the weather.
I'm sure there are more factors, however in NYC, we are losing the right to use our own parks for ball playing unless we get permission from the city. Was just talking to a friend of mine yesterday who runs softball leagues and from the way it was explained, the people of NY have lost their grip on parks. That even if we decided to start a pickup baseball game on the park baseball fields (like we did as children), that police could break our games up because of bullshit laws. I actually had a police officer (overseer), card me for ID because I walked into a schoolyard at 1PM on Saturday. If you know anything about Brooklyn, is that our many schoolyards usually double as parks for poor folks who don't have the means to travel all the way to the bigger parks. If you want to organize anything now, you have to go through a bunch of redtape. It's really kind of sad.
I'm sure there are more factors, however in NYC, we are losing the right to use our own parks for ball playing unless we get permission from the city. Was just talking to a friend of mine yesterday who runs softball leagues and from the way it was explained, the people of NY have lost their grip on parks. That even if we decided to start a pickup baseball game on the park baseball fields (like we did as children), that police could break our games up because of bullshit laws. I actually had a police officer (overseer), card me for ID because I walked into a schoolyard at 1PM on Saturday. If you know anything about Brooklyn, is that our many schoolyards usually double as parks for poor folks who don't have the means to travel all the way to the bigger parks. If you want to organize anything now, you have to go through a bunch of redtape. It's really kind of sad.
Yea, you have to get permits to use fields and those permits are almost necessary in some of the places because the park dept locks the good baseball fields.
I consider caribbean players black. They look just like you and me. Faded hair and all. We actually came from where they are. There are merely brothers that speak Spanish.
Your thoughts?
Your thoughts?
Like Que said, its what they want to consider themselves.
Most Arabs I know can pass for light skinned blacks... actually some Sudanese cats I've known have looked like Wesley Snipes, but they consider themselves Arab more so than black.