
In a roundtable discussion on race in baseball with
USA Today, the subject of the lack of American Black players in the league came up. More Black American athletes are choosing to play other sports, such as basketball and football, but there are plenty of
Black Latino (or Afro-Latino) players. According to L.A. Angels center fielder
Torii Hunter, however, Black Latinos don't count when it comes to the race disparity in baseball.
"People see dark faces out there, and the perception is that they're African American,"
Hunter told USA Today. "They're not us. They're impostors. Even people I know come up and say, 'Hey, what color is [former teammate]
Vladimir Guerrero? Is he a black player?' I say, Come on, he's Dominican. He's not black."
Apparently someone forgot to tell Hunter that
race (Black) and
nationality (Dominican) are two different things.
"As African-American players, we have a theory that baseball can go get an imitator and pass them off as us," Hunter continued. "It's like they had to get some kind of dark faces, so they go to the Dominican or Venezuela because you can get them cheaper. It's like, 'Why should I get this kid from the South Side of Chicago and have Scott Boras represent him and pay him $5 million, when you can get a Dominican guy for a bag of chips?' I'm telling you, it's sad."
For the most part, it seems, in Hunter's mind "black" only refers to African-Americans and not Afro-Latinos. Except for the fact that plenty of Afro-Latino players are holding 7-figure contracts (hardly a bag of chips), it looks like most Afro-Latinos agree with Hunter.