I find it difficult to celebrate the statistics I’m about to share with you. But Major League Baseball seems ready to throw a party.
According to MLB’s breakdown, 6.8% of players on Opening Day rosters were Black. That’s less than two players per team on average, and it includes players on the injured list.
On Opening Day 2024, 6% of MLB’s players were Black. That inched up to 6.2% in 2025.
MLB seems giddy because it marks the first back-to-back increase in African American player participation in the last two decades.
In addition, the modest 0.6 percentage-point increase is the largest since a 0.7 percentage-point increase between 2017 and 2018.
The St. Louis Cardinals remain an MLB rarity with three Black players on the 26-man roster. On most days, center fielder Victor Scott II, right fielder Jordan Walker and shortstop Masyn Winn are in the starting lineup.
Is it coincidence that teams from midsize markets in the Midwest have the highest number of Black players?
The Minnesota Twins had six Black players on their roster, including two Black starting pitchers — Taj Bradley and Simeon Woods-Richardson. That truly is rare.
The Cincinnati Reds had five Black players on the roster, including pitcher Hunter Greene, who is on the injured list.
The Cardinals, Reds and Twins accounted for 18.6% of all MLB Black players on Opening Day.
Bob Nightengale of USA Today called it “alarming” that five teams opened the season without a Black player on the roster. That is twice the number from last year.
According to his report, the Chicago Cubs, San Francisco Giants, Boston Red Sox, San Diego Padres and Pittsburgh Pirates did not have a single African American player on the roster. No help is coming internally for the Padres because the franchise does not have a Black player on its 40-man roster.
Jackie Robinson first played for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. Obviously, he was his team’s — and MLB’s — only Black player.
Fast forward to March 26, 2026. Like the 1947 Dodgers, the Los Angeles Dodgers had just one Black player on Opening Day.
MLB has launched several programs designed to attract Black youths back to baseball. They include the MLB Youth Academy, Breakthrough Series, DREAM Series, Nike RBI, the Hank Aaron Invitational and others.
Of the 64 Black players on Opening Day rosters, 20 participated in one or more of those programs, including the Cardinals’ Jordan Walker.
In addition, 17 more Black players were on MLB 40-man rosters but not on Opening Day active lists.
I wrote in April about the Chicago Black Baseball Media and Classic game featuring HBCU teams at Wrigley Field. There is a growing effort to reintroduce baseball to several generations of young Black athletes and prospective fans who have seemingly been ignored for decades.
According to MLB, 64 Black players were on Opening Day rosters. Blake Perkins of the Milwaukee Brewers has been called up to the majors and was on the active roster this week when his team visited the Cardinals.
Of the 64 Black players on MLB rosters, 35 are 27 or younger and 22 are 25 or younger. Just eight are older than 32.
While incremental increases are better than declines, MLB is still far behind its inclusion heyday in the mid-1970s, when more than 25% of players were Black.
I’m 65, and I’m among a dwindling number of Black fans who follow MLB intensely. It’s because I grew up watching Black stars and future Hall of Famers.
The Cardinals are not the only team looking to fill seats as the season heads toward summer. Black fans want to see Black players. Build it, and they will come.
The Reid Roundup
Max Venable, one of two Black MLB managers, has the Chicago White Sox among the surprises of 2026. The White Sox won eight of 11 games last week and were just one game out of first place in the American League Central…The other Black manager, Dave Roberts of the Dodgers, saw the Cardinals take two of three games from his team…Jordan Walker raised his batting average to .307, with six RBIs, six hits, a home run and two stolen bases in the Dodgers series. As of Monday, he had 10 home runs, 27 RBIs, and should be a National League All-Star.
After reading this I wonder how many black players are in the minor leagues. I am going to ask AI or Google and see what I come up with. MLB does not appeal to black athletes for some reason. It is football, basketball, and track and field in my opinion. The NFL and NBA do a fantastic job of marketing their respective sports. MLB not so much. I just had another thought as I am writing my comment. How many black soccer players, men and women, are there in professional soccer? Does Saint Louis SC have any black players on their roster? I know about Trinity Rodman a little bit but after that I draw a blank.
Basketball went out of their way to market to black youths starting in the 80s, while baseball was stuck in the 50s. By the time the 2000s rolled around, baseball lost relevance with black youth. Baseball is more concerned with being an international game today, than it is with regaining black youths. Japan, Korea, the Caribbean, South and Central America are their targets. In the late 70s the most famous athlete on the planet was a baseball player, Reggie Jackson. That will never happen again
When I think of “whitey ball” in StLouis…I remember how wonderful it was that Whitey didn’t seem to care that some of the best talent he coached were not only white (i.e., Andujar, Hrabosky, Sutter, Ramsey, Porter, Forsch, Lahti, Herr, etc.) but players of color too! (Ozzie, McGee, Hendricks, Hernandez, Coleman, Smith, Green, etc.)..He took the talent he had and showed the world..what baseball should loook like…fun, fast, diverse and entertaining! especially to a predominantly black community. Jack Buck made “go crazy folks” a household mantra in our community because we were a BIG part of how they won and kept winning and the cardinals nor any other teams have had nothing like that since then! MLB needs to understand that is why black support has dwindled; it is only fair that our black children see more players that look like themselves and not just a bunch of dumpy players that can’t run…steal..hit or connect with a community that pays taxes for a majority of white-induced performances! When MLB started turning the game back to all-white, my family responded by praying for the game to be fair, diverse and successful…but we will cut-back on letting the game exclude all that Jackie Robinson fought and suffered for…otherwise, we may as well go back to having a negro league…at least we had a place at the table..and a following that proved…making something “all-white” still don’t make it right! Anyway…..we still believe and say Gooo Cards!
Do you think Kwanza Jones and her husband José E. Feliciano will get the green light from the powers that be in MLB to become the majority owners of the San Diego Padres?