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Adam Jones is the only African American invited to spring training. There are players from other countries that are black.

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Baseball requires a lot of green space, something that's in short supply in most cities and pretty abundant in most suburbs. Baseball by itself will not change this without the involvemnt of big cities.

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Adam,

Be more specific, do you want more black american in MLB. Blacks are well represented in MLB, maybe not black american. Remember, A-rod, Big Papi, and others are black, just not american black. So please be specific in your request.

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I think it is a pointless non-issue. While I love the O's and think Jones will shine for a long time, I would much rather see young "Blacks" doing well in elementary, middle and high school and see them gravitate towards math and science and technology and engineering and medicine rather than the pipe-dream of becoming a major leaguer. That, to me anyway, is much more important and realistic.

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Adam Jones is a spectacular five tool talent that should be heard. He is a smart guy that is making a great point and I hope more people hear it throughout the season. Baseball Handicapping

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I understand Mr. Jones very well. I am truly sorry that there is lack of young African American men that choose baseball and it is a shame that it is not as popular in the African American Community now that it was 20 years ago. Equally as insulting is the fact that in many areas where there are "intergrated" high schools one will see pictures of the basketball and football teams with a strong showing of African Americans while the picture of the baseball team is very representative of our US Senate. One reason is of course the lack of popularity among the current African American Community and the perceived lack of coolness by many young African American men. Another is the fact that often times the baseball coaches don't want to deal with young African American males because they are often thought of as more difficult to coach or inadept in performing well in "that" culture. Most of us know that the baseball environment is usually different that the football and baseball groups. In addition, some African American parents who do have their children in Little League Baseball are often, but not at all times, ostracized by the other parents. I live in a community outside of Houston and most of the parents in this enclave see people that are different than them as bad and some of these same people want to breed their children for the Majors at age six.

The most tragic thing is that most African Americans don't see why baseball is the best sport to put a child in. First, the chance of injury is much less, as well as, duration of career. Second baseball has no salary cap and "no-cut" contracts - think hard about this one and the demographics involved. Third, one does not have to be a freak of nature to play. Next, in this day and age if you don't make the Majors there is at least some chance that one can make some kind of money playing major league ball. Subsequently, if you are not good enough to make it to the Majors some employement can be found at a lower level. Consider this true story, I am a dentist and while one of my friends attended dental school he helped coach Howard University's baseball team for a reduction in his tuition. This probably would not have happened in football or baseball because of time requirements for those two sports. When he graduated as a dentist from Howard he was even able to work as a scout until he got his licence to practice.

I have a different spin on things because I come from a background that is very common of many Americans Black or White but with a slightly different outlook.

I played college rugby for LSU and some other club teams on the East Coast many years ago and to this date I am one of the few African American players that have ever "graced the pitch" for that school. Many people think that I am crazy because I stated many times that I felt a little like Jackie Robinson when I played but it was true to a small extent. Many of the players did not accept me and I had to endure many racist jokes and comments. Almost every game I played I was the only Black on the field period. Excessive gang tackling was something that I had to endure all the time. On the sidelines few of my fellow players talked to me and at the parties people would often ask who that Black player was. When I played and was asked on the East Coast about getting more Black players like myself I just leveled with the guys and told them about the perceive ideology of the sport and its fans, that fact that most colleges have NO scholarship money for Rugby and that there are no multi-million dollar contracts for players that put on boots and run around the pitch. I even took my son to a recent match that a local school college (RICE U.) played and I could hear one of the fans talk about the big, black buck that the other team had and it would give the opposing team an advantage.

I know that this is an obtuse way of putting things in perspective but we must remember that sports is a micrcosm of our society and in our society we still have racism no matter how subtle it may be; there is still "negectlism". Basically meaning, not that much attention or investment payed to a group of people that are revered as not worth the effort. I remember during the 80's when I attended high school I tried football but was not very successful. Mostly, because the coach that saw potential in me moved to another school. Also I had a problem with weightlifting and was afraid to ask for help in developing a plan for getting stronger. Even at that young age I noticed that many of the White players were afforded the chance to get scholarships while the Black players did receive such opportunities. It seemed that if the Black players came with skills they played while the White players we given a chance to be developed into players. If you were Black and didn't already come with the A-game no one would spend time with you and you did not play. We even had some Black players then that were put in Special Education classes so that they could stay elligible for football but one of these players could beat me at chess. My reasoning here is that if you are smart enough to use logic and reasoning to beat a B+ student in chess, Special Ed is not the place for you. I became irate when I found out that our coach did not do anything to get this young man to realize that his studies were important. I, at that young age of 16, did notice all of this and asked why. When I was considered a trouble-maker for asking about why the poorer Black kids were denied chances I decided to give up on trying to make varsity and spend more time on academics but I can say that I learned alot from that experience that allowed me to excell in life. I did fairly well in college rugby playing against some pretty good South African and British players and many times asked myself how things may have been if someone had tried to invest time in me while I played high school football like they invested in my white counterparts. I don't know how but the MLB has to reachout a little bit more time with the Black Community and become a more visible stakeholder, spend a little bit more time scouting Historically Black Colleges and try to get those in the lower ranks to not be too quick to write-off a kid that may have great speed but is not disciplined and committed enough to play baseball.

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He is a smart guy that is making a great point and I hope more people hear it throughout the season. Baseball Handicapping

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For all Orioles fans that interested in getting the latest news, here is a great site of their hot videos:
http://www.orioleshome.com

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If A-Rod was Afro-American American News Media would re-name him A-Roid. Well, I will hopefully you will too!

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