Jesse Jackson's group meets with Braves over lack of blacks

[RammyFanny]

Apologies if this was posted already, I couldn't find a thread on it.

 

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/braves/stories/2007/05/07/0508bravesminority.html?imw=Y

 

Braves meet with Rainbow/PUSH officials

By CARROLL ROGERS

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 05/07/07

 

Upset over the lack of African-Americans on the Braves roster, members of Jesse Jackson's Rainbow-PUSH Coalition asked for a meeting with team officials. They got one Monday.

 

Joe Beasley, Southern Regional Director for the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, said he and Dexter Clinkscale, the director of sports for the organization, met Monday morning for nearly two hours with Braves general manager John Schuerholz, assistant general manager Frank Wren and three other Braves officials.

 

"The team slipped ... down to [no African-Americans]; it wasn?t something that just happened," Beasley said Monday afternoon. "I think it was a lack of diligence on the part of the Braves to recruit African-American players. There's not diminished enthusiasm for African-Americans playing baseball. It's simply the opportunity hasn't presented itself."

 

Schuerholz acknowledged the meeting Monday but declined further comment, saying in a statement: "We had a meeting with Mr. Beasley and another member of his organization this morning and discussed a variety of topics."

 

Less than 10 percent of major league players are African-Americans. In a recent interview on the subject, Schuerholz said: "You go to where the talent leads you. Finding major league-caliber baseball players is far too difficult if you try to narrow your criteria down to demographics."

 

Countered Beasley, "As I expected, [schuerholz?s] idea is the bottom line: I'll put the best 40 men I can get wherever I can get them from on the field, and that's fair. But the fact of the matter is if they put resources into recruiting here in the United States, and more specifically here in Atlanta, there are talented players here."

 

The issue was brought to the attention of the Rainbow-PUSH Coalition during the 60th anniversary celebration of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier. The Braves and Houston Astros did not have any African-American players on their 25-man rosters at the time. The Braves' total grew with the promotion of left fielder Willie Harris, who is from Robinson?s hometown of Cairo.

 

"You slipped down to nothing, now you've got one, we expect it to start going up higher," Beasley said was the sentiment he voiced in the meeting. "We want to see incrementally it move back up, rather than moving down. There was an openness on [schuerholz's] part to talk and to be in dialogue and hopefully be in partnership in trying to make sure that it happens. He was very nice, a gentleman. I'm going to hold him to his word to work with us and move those numbers back up to a respectable level."

[mhuber92211]

This is ridiculous. I would have assumed that an organization that promtes diversity would care less about the number of specific people of a certain decent. The only thing that matters is that they have a mix of people from ALL demographics. Not to have a specific number of specific colors. Shouldn't this organization be color blind?

[Bote McBoteface]

This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.

[Rob]

Jesse Jackson isn't allowed back in my good old hometown of Decatur, IL anymore. The city council banned him. :lol:

[ctcf]

Jesse Jackson isn't allowed back in my good old hometown of Decatur, IL anymore. The city council banned him. :lol:

Brilliant.

 

It's a shame the US hasn't do that.

Edited May 14, 2007 by ctcf

[sunnydoo]

Well its simple economics, as are most things.

 

Most inner city kids play basketball or football. Why? you just have to buy a ball or know someone who has one (not talking about organized football, just fball the way you played in the street when you were a kid).

 

Priced a set of golf clubs or a baseball, bat and glove recently?

 

Doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out why the inner city kids gravitate to bball and football.

 

Now we know why Langerhans was traded. :wink:

[PrimeTime]

This is BS...Do you see white groups going to NBA teams and MLB teams and complaining there is not enough white players?? No..I am not racist at all, but they complain about freaking everything..This is just freaking ridiculous and makes me sick.

[Soriano12]

Jesse Jackson is a racist POS.

 

nuff said.

[AAApittsburgh]

No meeting with the Astros?

[C.C.]

I wished I owned the Braves just to laugh in his face at the meeting.

[Omar]

I wonder if he'll do the same thing with the NHL.

[frostwyrm]

Well its simple economics, as are most things.

 

Most inner city kids play basketball or football. Why? you just have to buy a ball or know someone who has one (not talking about organized football, just fball the way you played in the street when you were a kid).

 

Priced a set of golf clubs or a baseball, bat and glove recently?

 

Doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out why the inner city kids gravitate to bball and football.

 

Now we know why Langerhans was traded. :wink:

 

Never bought into that. There's plenty of poverty in Latin America, even moreso than in US inner cities, yet there's no shortage of latin kids finding their way onto pro baseball rosters. Simple fact is baseball is no longer very popular with young African Americans. That's why the scarcity of black players isn't going away anytime soon. Jesse Jackson can bitch about it all he wants but it won't change anything.

[MembersOnlyJacket]

This is just noise-making for people who have nothing better to do. As I recall, Hank Aaron gave an interview (paraphrasing) on Jackie Robinson Day where he stated that it's much easier for inner city kids to pick up a basketball or football and head to the court or field and it's popular. Baseball is dying because the kids can't afford what they need to play and the scouts are afraid in some cases to go into the inner cities and watch kids play. Additionally, the ball fields in the inner cities don't exist anywhere close to the levels they do in suburban and rural communities.

 

Jesse Jackson and his cronies must have something better to do than hold a meeting with the Braves because they don't have black players.

 

I'm planning on holding a meeting with the Hawks next week to figure out where all their white players went. Gone are the days of Jon Koncak and company.

 

:roll:

[Roast]

I really hate Jesse Jackson.

[J.R.]

This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.

 

It reads like a parody. It's sad that people can be so stupid.

[radarluv1]

Jesse Jackson isn't allowed back in my good old hometown of Decatur, IL anymore. The city council banned him. :lol:

 

wasnt this after some kids were kicked out of school for a fight at a HS football game? iirc there was a video of the victims starting a large brawl.

[Milli1306]

Jesse Jackson isn't allowed back in my good old hometown of Decatur, IL anymore. The city council banned him. :lol:

 

well Rob, I know plenty of people who wouldn't mind being banned from Decatur...that smell from the plant is just too much

[Anna]

Here is what I just don't get: What, exactly, is the group suggesting? The Braves are discriminating against all American-born people of African heritage, but people of African hertiage who were born outside of the US are just fine? If the Braves really just hated black people, I think it would extend to Edgar Renteria and Rafael Soriano regardless of where they were born.

 

If the Rainbow-PUSH Coalition really cared about getting African-Americans into the MLB, it would focus on inner-city youth baseball.

 

well Rob, I know plenty of people who wouldn't mind being banned from Decatur...that smell from the plant is just too much

 

That is probably the most distinctive memory of going to visit my grandparents in Decatur. Of course, my dad used to say it was my grandmother...

[NewUserName]

I wonder if he'll do the same thing with the NHL.

 

 

there is quite a few blacks in the NHL. I think its up into the 20s. I know this isnt a lot but they are growing in that league as opposed to baseball.

[YearofDaCubs]

I wished I owned the Braves just to laugh in his face at the meeting.

I probably wouldn't even accept the meeting because it is completely ridiculous.

[Balsa]

And in other news, Rich Hill is a good pitcher.

[Outshined_One]

This is just noise-making for people who have nothing better to do. As I recall, Hank Aaron gave an interview (paraphrasing) on Jackie Robinson Day where he stated that it's much easier for inner city kids to pick up a basketball or football and head to the court or field and it's popular. Baseball is dying because the kids can't afford what they need to play and the scouts are afraid in some cases to go into the inner cities and watch kids play. Additionally, the ball fields in the inner cities don't exist anywhere close to the levels they do in suburban and rural communities.

 

There are a few other difficulties...

 

1) While baseball has numerous lucrative contracts and plenty of endorsement opportunities, the payoff is not immediate. Unless you're a top level talent taken early in the draft, you won't see the majors in the near future after being drafted. Some draftees get good deals, but the overwhelming majority of players have to work their way through the minors and then are under a team's control for a number of years until they become free agents. In most cases, guys drafted right out of high school will not see a multimillion dollar contract for about 10 years.

 

Factor into all of that the possibility of injuries and whatnot and that payday seems less and less likely.

 

In basketball, all you need is to be a year out of high school. In football, three years out of high school. In most cases, you'll get a shot at making the professional team before being assigned to the practice squad or whatever. You'll get your millions sooner and will also be playing professionally more quickly, which means endorsements will come sooner.

 

2) College scholarships for baseball are nowhere near as numerous as for football or basketball. Colleges don't have the same incentive to recruit top athletes from high school for baseball as they do for football and basketball. College baseball doesn't bring nearly the same revenue as basketball and football do, so colleges have less reason to focus on it.

 

3) In a similar vein, the level of exposure college baseball has cannot even come close to college football and basketball. Stop and think about it, how many people know who David Price is compared to, say, Kevin Durant or Brady Quinn? Those two guys are going to get numerous endorsement deals before even playing a second of professional ball. David Price, on the other hand, won't see any of those kinds of deals until he establishes himself at the major league level.

 

So, that's my take.

[b_wiggy_66]

This is just plain dumb. I wouldn't even grant Jesse Jackson a second of my time.

[RegulusBlue]

This guy is the pinnacle of the minority politics black market. MLB brought him in to try to stir up something, just as they did with all the Jackie Robinson stuff.

 

I don't know how the african-american community allows people like him and Sharpton to lead them in any way.

[Jehrico]

Rainbow-PUSH is a bunch of self-serving idiots. They do more damage to their cause than help with stuff like this.

 

They should be trying to talk to the commissioner to see how they can help jumpstart more of a grass-roots approach to promoting baseball in the larger cities than criticizing teams for not playing black players. Considering the time it takes to develop players and get them to the bigs from the time you draft/sign them, it's not a trend that is going to correct itself anytime soon. They should be looking at the root causes and not the end result. They're far too short-sighted and stupid for that.

 

The Braves are the most successful franchise in baseball since '91. I highly doubt they could have the type of sustained success and dominance that they've had if they were handcuffing themselves by refraining from certain demographics.

 

BTW, I thought Andrew Jones was an African-American? He was born in the Netherlands, but I thought his parents were American, can't find anything to confirm or deny.