There is no secret that MLB has lost the connection it once had with the African American community. We know some of the contributing factors. The questions are, what are they doing now, and what can they do to reverse the steady drain of African American players and African American fans? 
It’s not that baseball hasn’t tried. When I reached out to the St. Louis Cardinals and asked them about their feelings about the decline of African Americans in baseball and what they are doing now, their response was this.
“With regard to your inquiry below about our club’s outreach programs, since 2004 the Cardinals’ charitable foundation—Cardinals Care—has orchestrated the innovative Redbird Rookies program, a free co-ed baseball/softball league for kids who otherwise might not have the opportunity to play. In addition to providing all the uniforms and equipment needed for each team, Redbird Rookies also provides extensive off-field support in the areas of health, education, mentoring and the cultural arts for each of the nearly 2,500 kids who participate in the program each year.” They also suggested I reach out to MLB.
MLB has been involved in several programs over the years to combat the decline. One of their best-known is the RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) program. This is a great program, but John Young started it in 1989. Wanting to make sure the program would continue, he had to convince MLB to take over operations.
When asked about his thoughts on where baseball is right now, he brought up noteworthy points.
“I think that was a time when black baseball players were within pop culture, right? We had Ken Griffey Junior setting the norm for his backwards baseball cap. There were video games revolving around black baseball players. You know, they were involving culture, involving black culture, and I’m not too sure that is the case anymore. I think that’s a larger cultural issue more so than it is with major league baseball, stepping in and doing something.”
MLB is spending a ton of money in Latino countries and doing a much better job of scouting Asian countries. The teams have built baseball academies in foreign countries and that is keeping the pipeline full. They have also found it’s much cheaper to sign a player from Latin America than it is from here.
The outreach in this country is a few fields, uniforms, and some instructional camps. That gets kids exposure to baseball, but not much exposure with those that can offer a career in baseball. Most of the players drafted now from the USA have played on at least one travel team. That is where they are getting the best coaching and exposure to better equipment. Most parents can’t afford that. Even if MLB builds a field, creates leagues and pitches in with uniforms, the odds are still stacked against them.
It becomes even harder to guess the path forward when looking through the prism of our current political climate.
Several of the existing programs are under attack. MLB set up the “MLB Diversity Pipeline Program,” the “Diversity Fellowship Program,” the “Diversity in Ticket Sales Training Program,” and the “Diverse Business Partners Program” to grow the pool of qualified underrepresented candidates for on-field and front-office baseball operations roles.
America First Legal, an organization founded by Stephen Miller, filed a federal civil rights complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against Major League Baseball (MLB) to eliminate these programs for being discriminatory.
We are prohibited by federal law from commenting on charges (complaints/claims) or even confirming or denying the existence of a charge.
I received no response from America First Legal.
If programs aren’t under attack from organizations like the AFL, then they are being pressured by the federal government. Many companies and organizations are receiving orders to eliminate anything perceived as a DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) program or policy.
I reached out to Carson Shipley of the Cardinals and got a particularly good response on their outreach programs but when asked to comment if he saw any future changes with the team’s DEI policies, his answer was, “I would suggest reaching out to Major League Baseball on getting a statement on the other topics, as they would be better suited to answer questions about the league/sport as a whole.”
I received that reply on February 15th. On May 21st, MLB removed all references to “diversity” from its career home page.
