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TEMPE, Arizona — Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech is overlaid with modern beats, streamed from loudspeakers, and directed by young men who are virtually all American-born black baseball players. A group was practicing batting. Last weekend at the annual Dream Series.
Tony Reegins, the Major League Baseball executive behind the event, turned to the visitor and said, “When was the last time you heard Dr. King speak at BP?”
The answer was probably never. The audio mix was from the Mets and Chicago Whites former Sox manager Jerry Manuel’s phone call. Manuel is also one of Dream’s series coaches. The event, named in honor of King’s legacy, is intended to increase the number of black players in Major League baseball for him.
“All this gives me goosebumps,” Reagins says.
It’s been just three months since the end of the World Series, which embarrassed and humbled MLB.
Baseball, the sport that once helped redefine the racial boundaries of American society when Jackie Robinson consolidated the National League in 1947 and had a multicultural roster for decades has retreated in recent years. But his 2022 World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and Houston Astros has been a jarring milestone.
The problem is not just on the ground. MLB’s 30 teams have shown progress but still suffer from a clear lack of diversity in his front office and his coaching staff, according to an independent watchdog. However, the participation of black American players in baseball, including in the once-thriving black leagues, has long been a hallmark of the sport, and it was disappearing.
Efforts to address this issue began long before the 2022 World Series and were reinvigorated by the hiring of Reggins in 2015. Reggins argues that rewards for the league’s various programs will be seen in the years to come.
Reegins said of the moment he learned there would be no black players in the 2022 World Series, “I was disappointed. I was disappointed.” Yes, we knew it would be a story, but we also knew there was a lot of work going on to pave the way for years to come.”
The work is his passion. From 2007 to 2011 he was the general manager of the Los Angeles Angels, where he joined MLB on a mission to radically diversify the game. He helped launch and revitalize several development programs, including the annual Dream His Series held on MLK Day weekend. Breakthrough series. The Hank Aaron Invitational culminates in a showcase event at Truost Park, just outside Atlanta.
All programs, and future additions, will engage mostly underserved black boys and girls in baseball, softball, and women’s baseball, eventually leading to the most talented individuals like JP Massey. Designed to put players in front of college coaches and professional scouts. .
“Because I’m a kid from inner-city Chicago, they take me all the way to Atlanta and take me to places where there are different scouts so you can show off your talents in front of different eyes.” It’s a chance to do it,” Massey said. Without the coaching and mentorship he received in various programs, he may never have had the opportunity to play at the University of Minnesota or be drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates. 22 year old pitcher.
In an era of increasingly pay-to-play where costly traveling teams and private coaches send more privileged players to elite showcase events, many disadvantaged youth players find themselves in the hands of scouts and recruiters. I feel that it is difficult for people to notice me. Most of the MLB-affiliated programs are also supported by the Players Union and USA Baseball, are free, include travel, and feature elite coaching.
Former players and managers like Manuel, Latroy Hawkins, Marvin Freeman and Mike Scioscia lit up the Angels’ training facility last weekend, working closely with many of the best young black players in the country. , said about 600 alumni of the series continue to play in college.
Longtime scout Reagins makes a strong statement that baseball is still popular among young black athletes.
“You hear, ‘Oh, black kids don’t play baseball,'” he said. “I see them all the time.
Still, there is no dispute that the number of African-American players in MLB is declining. Last year, he had 7.2 percent of American-born black players on Opening Day rosters, according to the race and gender report card that Central University conducts annually. Florida. This was the lowest rate since 1991 when the data were first collected. That year, African-American players made up his 18% of his MLB roster.
However, as the number of black players in MLB continues to decline, the number of draft picks has increased significantly in recent years, due in part to the league’s programming. According to the same survey, he was drafted 65 American-born black players out of 349 picks (18.6%) in the first round of the last 10 drafts. Most of those players were graduates of MLB-led development programming.
MLB sees the 2022 draft as a counterpoint to the sober World Series. An American-born player who has participated in one or more. Nine of his 30 players won in the first round are American-born black players.
Richard Rapchik, director of UCF’s Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, which created the report card, called the World Series a “moment of jaw-dropping.” He believes MLB is making a good faith effort to reverse this trend.
“The draft numbers show a silver lining,” he said.
In the near future, young children may see players like Zion Rose and Sir Jamison Jones. They were just two of several catchers working with former Dodgers All-Star catcher and longtime Angels manager Scioscia last weekend.
“Working so closely with a coach like that is unbelievable,” said Jones, a high school senior in Blue Island, Illinois, near Chicago. His dreams are to become an MLB All-Star and “found his own foundation to help inner-city kids get into baseball.”
There are many theories to explain why baseball has become less popular among black athletes, many of which have to do with ties in more popular sports such as football, basketball and soccer.
“Baseball used to be a pillar of our community,” said Manuel, the 69-year-old former manager.
But nothing has yet deterred Kam Johnson, a top left-handed pitcher from Maryland, from pursuing a career in baseball.
Johnson was 6 feet 5 inches tall and weighed 240 pounds, and many tried to persuade him to switch to football and basketball. Darwin Penny said it’s hard for young athletes to resist the allure of these sports.
“We’re trying to keep the Patrick Mahomes of the world in our game,” said Penny.
Pat’s father, Patrick Mahomes, who was a major league pitcher, chose football, as did other dual-sport stars such as Kyler Murray, Russell Wilson, and Jameis Winston.
Johnson has been mentored and encouraged by Hawkins, a 21-year major league pitcher. Hawkins was urged by Regins to join Dream on his series after watching Johnson pitch in front of about a dozen of his MLB scouts on Saturday. Reggins said more scouts have been attending the event since last year’s draft, but he would like to see more scouts.
The program will reach players at all levels, starting in elementary school, and each year the top 44 players will be invited to a special game at Truist Park, home of the Atlanta Braves, using the same clubhouse as the big leaguers. . Stay in the same hotel as the visiting team.
“It was the highlight of my baseball career,” said Jones, the Illinois catcher.
Not everyone gets there. But some, like Fatine McDaniel, go further, partly because of the mentorship they received. McDaniel had been a troublemaker at the Hank Aaron Invitational a few years earlier, so Reegins nearly sent him home. If so, he said he would never hear from McDaniel again.
Speaking by phone from the ship, McDaniel explained how Manuel first spotted him and the others on a Little League field in Sacramento, California.
“All these kids, mostly black, many of them in broken homes, single parent homes, they put us in a stable environment,” McDaniel said. To make a bad impression, I probably did something wrong.If I could take it all back, I would.
“Baseball has saved me a lot of problems that I could have gotten into. I am getting married soon and we are discussing having children. I would definitely put my son in such a program.” I will let you.”
The Dream Series was born after Leagins heard longtime pitcher Dave Stewart for the Oakland Athletics and several other clubs lament the lack of black pitchers and catchers in today’s game. I was. With around 80 players, the program places a strong emphasis on these positions.
Alumni like Hunter Greene, who showed a glimpse of potential last season with the Cincinnati Reds, and Tahmer Johnson, the No. 4 pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates in last year’s draft, are the lights of the young players. Green invited everyone to his home in Phoenix on Saturday night, giving them spikes and letters of encouragement.
Overall message from everyone involved with the green and the program: Baseball still has a place for you.
“Many of these players are the only black players on their home teams,” Manuel said. “But when they come in here and look around, they see a lot of players like them. They realize they’re not the only ones.”
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