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TheGrio.com is reporting that there is a group of black women in Philadelphia who've taken it upon themselves to get their sons involved in baseball. In 1974, 27 percent of the players in Major League Baseball were African American. Today, that number is only 9 percent. These women are hoping to change that.
The author of the article, Chris Murray, says that one of the obstacles to black boys being more involved in baseball is that many of them come from single-parent homes. Their mothers, perhaps unaware of the benefits of playing the sport, may not encourage their sons to participate. The black athlete's skills, which typically get applied to basketball and football, are likely to thrive on the baseball field and tennis courts, where their participation is not nearly as likely. Also, the cultural infrastructure of basketball and football give it a leg up in the minds of black boys when they are choosing which sports to play.
Two women, Cheryl A. Mobley-Stimpson and Sarah J. Glover, have an interest in seeing their boys play baseball. Mobley-Stimpson runs a Facebook group called "Philly Sports Moms." The Mothers mention that the white male-dominated world of youth league baseball creates some racial hurdles: black boys are typically first-generation players, while the white kids have family members who've been part of the league for years.
Major League Baseball should get involved in recruiting black males to play the sport. This should also be true in tennis, golf and other sports that we traditionally choose not to play. While we are quick to flood the basketball courts, there are thousands of Venus and Serenas out there who've never had a chance to play any sport at all. Additionally, participation in sports teaches lifelong lessons about hard work, consistency, persistence, goal-setting and determination. It was by applying what I'd learned from participating in track and field that I became a straight-A student in college. The key was setting goals and working hard each day to achieve them.
For single Mothers raising black boys, it's important to ensure that your sons are getting proper role models. Find productive males in your community who are willing to provide some guidance and encouraging words for your sons as they go through their most difficult experiences. It's tough to figure out how to be a man, and while many women are confident in believing that they can teach a boy to be a man, the truth is that differences in gender-based perceptions are difficult to ignore. I personally don't feel that I have any ability whatsoever to teach my daughters how to be women, but I can certainly help to teach them how to relate to men.
Get your boys in to sports, but teach them to use sports as an avenue for success in all their endeavors. Athletics can be a pathway to academic, professional and social success. Additionally, seek out sports that are different. We don't need more kids doing the same old stuff.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here. 
Comments: (17)
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By: mswll4 on 9/02/2010 6:05AM
The COLORED ATHLETE now these days are geared to play FOOTBALL AND BASKETBALL [NBA] NATIONAL BLACK ASSOCIATION. The game is a little slow to learn and you got to have Patience,something a COLORED ATHLETE these days dont have.
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By: M. Alexander on 9/02/2010 7:58AM
"The COLORED ATHLETE now these days are geared to play FOOTBALL AND BASKETBALL [NBA] NATIONAL BLACK ASSOCIATION. "
Wow ! Talk about living in the dark ages ! The term "colored" hasn't been used since the 1950s and we are now living in the 21st century just in case your trailer park doesn't get cable or internet access !
If the NBA is the "National Black Association" as you think, then the NHL is known as the "National Honkey League" !
Baseball is boring so Blacks tend to gravitate towards sports like football and basketball where there's constant activity ! The last time Blacks stood still, they ended up on ships headd for AmeriKKKa ! And we all know how that turned out !
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By: fumoron on 9/02/2010 11:32AM
Usless idiot, Black Voices is your life.
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By: Tina on 9/02/2010 2:24PM
What I find funny is how these whites keep saying they hate blacks, but they are ALWAYS in our business.
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By: mswll4 on 9/02/2010 8:23AM
@M.ALEXANDER , you sound like ANGRY COLORED GIRL. Oh by the way i live in a 2 story brick house. HAHAHA.
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By: LisaH on 9/02/2010 9:14AM
I have 3 boys. The ages are 7, 15 and 19. They have never been interested in baseball. They say it's boring. My 7 year old goes out and plays football with his friends on a regular basis. Many of the young boys nowadays don't like baseball. Its too slow. Their attention span is too short. They love basketball, football, and skateboarding.
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By: Pam on 9/02/2010 12:14PM
Get off of our site!!!
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By: rbzphi on 9/02/2010 11:01AM
Great question... But this is truely being addressed in Houston, TX. Dr. Watkins i personnaly invite you to the 10 year anniversary of South Central Sportz(formally South Central Little League). Not only was the league founded by two African American men 9 years ago, but the league has one unique thing that separates them from others in this great state. All of our teams are named after Negro League Teams. We have the Black Sox, Stars, Yankees, Royal Giants, and the almighty Crawfords(my son's team for the past three years). As team mom of the Crawfords I personally was intrigued by tyhe history of the Negro League, so each year I give the new players/parents the history of the Pittsburgh Crawfords and a photo of the original team. Our opening day ceremony is something to see. We have Black counsel memebers, state and local, and Shelia Jackson Lee attended this year and three out the first pitch. We have the last living NL player to play in the Majors to come out two years ago to throw out the first pitch. There is also another league that is doing great things in this city. The Sta-Mo(Stafford -Missouri City) League is another league that is a league of color. A new addition is the a league backed by a State Senator Sylvester Turner who after seeing South Central... started a league on the North Side of Houston. So yes we are exposing our kids to baseball and to the brothers currently playing for our Houston Astros.
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By: Jim on 9/05/2010 3:49PM
I can't help but wonder how different the major league record books would look if blacks had been allowed to play in the majors in the 58 years from 1889 to 1947. They were some fantastic black players who were never given the opportunity to play in the majors during those years. Before 1889 blacks played in the majors and did well. I love baseball I don't care if a player is black blue green purple or what ever if he can play the game well more power to him. Long live baseball
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By: EB on 9/08/2010 12:25AM
Yes, in Houston we do have little league teams whose players are players of color.
However, and depending on where you live, there is a disparity in the facilities as well as a disparity in the opportunities to play.
Sylvester Turner did a wonderful thing by gearing funds to the facility in his district, and the Sta-Mo (Stafford-Missouri City] League has been successful because the cities of Stafford and Missouri City provide great facilities for their residents.
However, if you travel to the Sunnyside area and beyond, things aren't as great. In fact, I can remember when Ralph Cooper [an African American local radio sports announcer] began a league that practiced down the street from Worthing High School.
More specifically, Ralph was on his radio show begging his listeners to help do things such as transport the players to games, etc., and when I arrived in my nice big suburban, I found Ralph Cooper alone by himself with only the boys trying to line up the practice field [if you called it a field], and the players didn't have real uniforms.
However, those young men were not only respectful, but they appreciated the "opportunity" to have the opportunity to play.
And as for Shelia Jackson Lee, she shows up to any and everything if she thinks that a camera is going to be there. But I didn't see her around on that day, and I especially remmeber that the boys I am referring to were in her District.
During that time my son played on a team in the Sta-Mo League and I was the mom who picked up other parents' children so that they could learn the game of baseball. Football and Track were covered because my husband is a High School football and track coach.
I am just one person. However, I made it my personal business to try to expose my son's friends to not only sports, but to the arts as well.
My philosophy is that each one must teach one.
But the problem that I saw with several of the little league teams was that many of the coaches favored their own children or relatives over other children, and if your parent didn't have a "title", then you went to the back of the "bus" in participation.
I had a "title" which to me had no significance or place outside a courtroom, but I used that "title" to seek equity for those young men whose "single" mothers, or working fathers couldn't be there, and I tried to instill in them that "low-income" did not mean "low-understanding", and that on the field of play, all things are equal.
So its nice to have a few major league players come out now and then to "validate" a team or league's existence, but what about when the game is over?
I thank God that I have had the opportunity to see many of those boys from "low-income" families walk across the stage to get their college diplomas, and each one of them is giving back.
But these days many of "us" have chosen to forget from whence we came, and if it isn't our "child" or family member, "we" just don't have the time.
Low income children need bats, balls, gloves, shoes, uniforms, and someone to see the potential in each of them individually.
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