Let the record show that Dexter Fowler scored the first run of the St. Louis Cardinals season in a 4-3 victory last Sunday night on ESPN.
Randal Grichuk delivered the Cards’ two biggest blows with a two-run home run in the eighth inning and then a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the ninth. Catcher Yadier Molina received two lengthy ovations after signing a three-year contract extension before the game.
But fans showered Fowler with cheers throughout the game as his new team – the Cardinals – took on his old team – the Chicago Cubs – in the home opener.
Fowler displayed his importance to the Redbirds with that first run of the season. He reached first base on an infield single. Aledmys Diaz slapped a single to right field and Fowler sprinted to third base. He would score on Matt Carpenter’s line-drive sacrifice fly.
The hit came on Fowler’s second at-bat of the game, and he had received another long, standing ovation before its first pitch. After reaching first base, he was greeted by close friend Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs.
“Rizzo goes, ‘That was awesome,’” said Fowler. “It was loud. I was thoroughly impressed.”
Cardinal Nation should already be impressed with its new centerfielder.
It’s about the outfield
In two weeks, Fowler will field dozens of questions about Jackie Robinson and the lack of African Americans in Major League Baseball. It comes with the territory when you’re the team’s lone black player on April 15, Jackie Robinson Day.
USA TODAY will also release its statistical data on the number of black players on Opening Day rosters leading up to the MLB-wide celebration of the historic date that Robinson played his first game with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Last year, USA TODAY found that 69 of 862 players on Opening Day rosters were black – just 8 percent.
Only 3.1 percent (14) of the total number of starting and relief pitchers were African-American.
Here is the breakdown by position. Outfielders 42; starting pitchers 7; relief pitchers 7; second basemen 7; first base/designated hitter 3; shortstop 3; third base 0; catcher 0.
Of the nine positions on the diamond, two of them had no black players on 2016 first-game rosters. This is as damning a fact as any as MLB struggles to increase black participation in the sport.
Black skipper double play
Major League Baseball didn’t lose any black managers during the offseason nor were any hired, leaving a grand total of two out of 30 positions.
Retuning are Dusty Baker in Washington and Dave Roberts in Los Angeles. Both guided their teams to the postseason, which certainly adds to their job security. Both are also favored to lead their teams to respective division titles in the NL East and NL West.
Nothing short of the World Series will do, says Roberts, now in his second season
“We’re equipped to win this thing,” Roberts said. “That’s the only focus that we have. All the boxes are checked. Now it’s just up to us to go out and win baseball games.”
Roberts was named the 2016 NL Manager of the Year after displaying his baseball know-how in a challenging season.
The Dodgers used a franchise record-tying 55 total players and 31 different pitchers last season. Twenty-eight players (three more players than an entire roster) spent time on the disabled list, the most for any team in the last 30 years.
Baker is entering his 22nd year as a big-league manager with stints in San Francisco, Chicago, Cincinnati and now Washington. He is second only to San Francisco’s Bruce Bochy (23rd year) in managerial experience, but a World Series title has eluded him.
The Nationals were a hot mess in 2015, and Baker calmed the calamitous clubhouse and got his team into the playoffs. He only got the chance to take over in 2016 because Bud Black, now in his first year with the Colorado Rockies, could not settle on a contract.
The Nationals did not extend his contract in the offseason, meaning Baker could easily be gone after this year.
“Dusty deserves to get the thing he wants the most,” said All-Star outfielder Jayson Werth.
“He’s a good baseball man. But more important, he’s just a genuinely good person. It’s hard to come across people like that. He’s done everything right.”
Baker responded, “I told (Jayson), ‘Win it for you (guys), not for me.’”
Washington Post columnist Thomas Boswell wrote this week, “Why the Nats don’t extend Baker’s contract past 2017 is beyond me. Don’t the owners know the mood of their team? When a manager costs the same as utility man Stephen Drew, why leave him as a lame duck?”
Baker has shared that he wants to be the first African-American manager in the Baseball Hall of Fame. He has the victories, he has a World Series appearance, he has turned losers into winners in four cities. The only thing standing between him and certain induction into the Hall is a World Series title.
Alvin A. Reid is a panelist on the Nine Network program, Donnybrook and appears on ABC’s The Allman Report and several sports radio shows, including Frank Cusumano’s “The Press Box” on KFNS. His Twitter handle is @aareid1.
