CNN
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Dario Otero Jr., affectionately known as DJ, admires Jackie Robinson for making history as the first black American to play Major League Baseball.
DJ, 13, said Robinson proved black players could excel in professional baseball, too. But 75 years after the league’s desegregation, DJ said he was the only black baseball player on his youth touring team.
And that reality hits it hardest during auditions and games, said DJ’s father, Dario Otero Sr.
“He knows he’s the only one there,” Otero said. “Whatever he does, however he’s viewed, he sticks out like a sore thumb… He’s known for being the only player in our area who’s the black player.”
DJ, who lives in Rosemount, Minnesota, said he would like to see more black youth in his age group play baseball. As the only black player on his team, he is “concerned” about the future, DJ said.
And he’s not the only one.
The recent news that there are no US-born black players competing in the World Series for the first time since 1950 underscores what advocates of racial justice in sports say is MLB’s decades-long struggle with diversity.
This comes after a May report by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport found there is a lower percentage of black MLB players now than there have been in three decades. Black players currently make up about 7% of Major League Baseball teams, compared to the 18% Black players the league had in 1991.
Ahead of Game 1 at Minute Maid Park in Houston, the Astros and Philadelphia Phillies announced their 26-man World Series rosters last week, and both teams’ rosters do not include US-born black players. Astros outfielder Michael Brantley, a black player, would likely have been on the roster but suffered a season-ending shoulder injury early in the season. Meanwhile, the Phillies had no black players on their Opening Day roster this year for the first time since 1959. Roman Quinn, who is black, was a backup outfielder with the Phillies this season but was released after 23 games.
Richard Lapchick, director of the institute and author of the report, titled The Racial and Gender Report Card: Major League Baseball, said MLB has made some progress in recruiting black players, but the data shows there is more work to be done.
“Baseball has been trying really hard to increase the number of black players because frankly, they’re embarrassed,” Lapchick said.
Lapchick credits the league for making history this year. Four of the top five MLB draft picks that year were Black, and they all participated in MLB’s Dream Series, which aimed to increase Black representation on the field.
MLB chief diversity officer Tony Reagins told CNN it’s critical to get youth league players into college, where they can be seen by scouts and their skills developed.
Reagins said the number of blacks participating in college baseball is about 5%. He said that while he understands the importance of getting black players into professional baseball, he believes “getting black players into college is just as important.”
“It didn’t happen overnight and it won’t change overnight,” Reagins said.
While no players will be US-born African Americans, there will be black players at the Fall Classic, including Astros’ Afro-Cuban hitter Yordan Alvarez. Players from eight different countries are represented in the World Series this year.
However, observers say the lack of US-born players on this year’s roster signals more needs to be done to increase the pipeline for African-American players. And despite MLB’s efforts, many fans and league observers are still disappointed that black American players are underrepresented, said Phil Dixon, a baseball historian and co-founder of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City.
“If I had to give Major League Baseball a grade, I’d give them a 5,” Dixon said.
His museum continues to receive millions of dollars in donations from MLB, but Dixon still believes too much has been invested in the past and not enough in the future.
“Since we started the museum, the number of black players has gone down,” Dixon said. “They put their money into history, a lot of their time, but their commitment to current youth is sorely lacking.”
Otero, DJ’s father, said black youth need to learn the history of baseball and get more guidance on how to get involved.
“I just want to encourage… minor league [and] major league baseball teams to delve into the history of their community and see how you’re engaging young athletes,” Otero told CNN.
Otero said some black families are also struggling to fund the cost of playing baseball, and there is not enough investment in repairing baseball fields in black neighborhoods.
“It’s expensive,” Otero said. “$300 gloves, $300 bats that you have to change every year.”
Lapchick told CNN that baseball fields are not common in urban areas.
Otero, who previously coached baseball in urban areas, said the fields in black and brown communities aren’t tended as well as the fields in white suburbs.
“It’s not that much fun,” Otero said, adding that due to the pitch’s poor condition, a rock could fly up and hit a player in the face.
Experts say more needs to be done to remove racial barriers to baseball.
“I think more could be invested in these programs, and I think communities across the country need to work with Major League Baseball to make these programs as robust as possible and to really support our youth,” said Jessie Hagopian , an author who writes about black representation in sport.
If MLB built more fields in black and brown communities, Hagopian said, it would reignite interest and recruitment in those communities.
Reagins said MLB shares Hagopian’s concerns. The league is working with local leaders to improve playing field conditions in several cities and is offering financial assistance to young players to help cover the costs of attending youth leagues, Reagins said.
“We provide equipment, we provide scholarships, we provide grants to even out the scale … to give more children the opportunities that those with resources already have,” he said.
A lack of investments and the high cost of the game are not the only problems.
According to Dixon, Ebony Magazine and other black media outlets promoted and listed all black professional baseball players in the 1960s and 1970s, but they no longer do so.
“There’s guilt at every level,” Dixon said.
Lapchick said black kids are less likely to choose baseball if they don’t see themselves celebrated in the sport.
Barry Bonds was considered one of the most popular black baseball players in the early 2000s, but his reported steroid use and subsequent media criticism overshadowed his accomplishments. This resulted in black athletes being pushed away from baseball and more toward basketball and football, Lapchick said.
“So if you’re a young black kid and you see the best black baseball player being criticized all the time and you look at the NBA and you see great athletes highlighted in the news and in the community – same thing in the NFL – They probably won’t go for baseball,” Lapchick explained.
Despite the racial divide in baseball, DJ said he hopes to someday make it into the MLB as a starting pitcher.
“I have a big arm,” DJ said. “An arm that could one day be part of the next generation of major league superstars.”
