MLB takes steps to bring back African-Americans to the game
Warning: This is a "race card" column.
Yes, I was counting the African-American faces last week.
And counting with amazement as Major League Baseball held its annual amateur draft.
Where race is involved, an interesting ethnic shift happened in that draft, and it centered right here in Arlington.
What made national notice were the six African-American players who were first-round selections overall, and seven in the first 31 picks, the highest percentage the MLB draft has seen in 20 years.
The Rangers went far beyond that.
Their first pick, and three of their first five, then two more in the 14th and 15th rounds, were black high school baseball players, most of them multi-sport schoolboy stars, with glowing résumés in both baseball and football, and with full-ride college scholarships waiting on the gridiron in the fall.
"I think we led the world, and are pretty much alone with those numbers," Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said, smiling, when asked if this is a breakthrough among MLB teams in this draft.
At least in the first round, a breakthrough happened. And for the Rangers, it went beyond the first round.
"Look, we don't care," added Daniels. "If they can play, we will take them black, white, green, purple, from anywhere, any country."
No, the Rangers, with an excellent reputation under Daniels for scouting, didn't target young black players. They simply picked talented long-range prospects they thought had a chance at someday playing in the majors, and they also made selections based on the odds of signing them immediately. A couple of the football studs were gambles, but calculated gambles based on maybe a desire to play both football and be in pro baseball in the summer, a la Bo and Deion of the past.
So why is this even a story?
Because MLB, the game of Jackie Robinson, is at its lowest modern-times ebb when it comes to bringing back African-American youth to the diamond.
Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/06/10/4020394/mlb-takes-steps-to-bring-back.html#storylink=cpy