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I am sure by
now you have heard the talk about where are the African-American
players when it comes to baseball? The numbers have shown that
there has been a steady decline over the years, and while there
have been think tanks, discussion groups and your general
conversation that has been met with the general response of “we are
aware of it and are addressing the issue,” not to mention the
proverbial wink.
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The question of
why has no direct answer, but I recently ran across another item
that adds to the issue. I have been in the business of sport for 30
years, and I have covered every major sporting event there is. With
that said, there have been countless events where the people who
cover it are not African-American.
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As a matter of
fact, in the current baseball playoffs involving the Cardinals and
Brewers, there are actually more African Americans in uniform for
both teams than there are covering the series. I may remind you
that we are talking about the Cardinals, who until recently were
questioned about their lack of African Americans only to have four
appear on the playoff roster. Throw in the four the Brewers offer,
and you have a grand total of eight out of the 50 players and that
is 16 percent, twice the overall makeup of the league.
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Let’s consider
the media coverage.
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There are an
estimated 300 media members covering this event, and the grand
total of African Americans who are actually covering it is four –
yes, four, including East St. Louis’ own Telly Hughes, who is the
TV sideline reporter for the Brewers, Thomas Harding of MLB.com and
Rene Knott of Channel Five. In case you are trying to do that math,
that is a little more than one percent.
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Believe it or
not, folks, that is high. In reading and hearing some of my
colleagues that happen not to be African-American, it is safe to
say that they have not cornered the market on good reporting and
coverage, which means there is room for improvement. The problem is
African Americans have not been afforded the chance, as this is the
last of the good old boys’ network.
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I always found
it interesting that those who write their annual story on where are
all the African Americans in baseball never write that
story about where they happen to be when it comes to coverage of
the event. Then there is the other faction that is aware and just
chooses to do nothing about it.
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So what does
that mean for the future? With all the technology and internet
involvement in how sports is covered, it is amazing that with there
being more jobs African Americans continue to be passed over for
whatever reason that may happen to be convenient.
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There have been
some that have broken through on the national level, but he is
normally in-studio and a former player, as if all former players
and managers are really that sharp. I get the experience factor,
but there are some who just don’t deliver the mail.
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Such is not the
case for ESPN’s Chris Singleton, who was good enough to do the game
of the week on radio only to be moved to the studio for first-year
broadcaster Bobby Valentine. Go figure. Nothing against Valentine,
who did a nice job this season, but Singleton had found a niche he
was good at.
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It’s not
Valentine or Singleton’s fault that that situation is what it is,
but the issue here is there is not enough opportunity for those who
may be deserving. I am not asking Joe Buck to move over, but I
think we are at a point where we need to ask where the coverage of
the game is headed. And ask: where are the black baseball
broadcasters?
