The Patterns Of Segregation In Major League Baseball

The Negro Leagues were one of the most important and influential movements to happen in baseball history. Without these ‘Invisible Men’, who knows where baseball’s racial standpoint with not only African American’s, but others such as Cuban, Dominican, and South American players, would be in the Major Leagues. Throughout the book, one pressing theme stays from beginning to end: Segregation.

Throughout his professional career, Jackie Robinson, received criticism for being the first “black” player to play the game. Not only did Jackie Robinson manage to live up to the criticism, he also changed the face of America’s greatest past time forever. With his entrance into the MLB he opened the path for great black players like Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Willie Mays, and Ozzie Smith just to name a few. In crossing the color-barrier in baseball Robinson not only strived as a great player on the field, but also a inspiration to the black community of the field with his humility, and willingness to move forward in a time where blacks were not considered “equal”.

In recent history it has been evident that some of the most popularize sports in America have been dominated and overran by African American and other minority athletes. In turn when the coaching and management positions in sports are analyzed and broken down, the number of minority coaches and managers in sport are almost non-existent and have been since those sports organization became established.

The 1950’s and the 1960’s saw the rise of the rise of Civil Rights and their respected leaders. This tumultuous period also saw the rise of Civil Rights leaders in sports. Much like how the southern United States was segregated, so was baseball. Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier when he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1945. More importantly, Jackie Robinson became involved with the Civil Rights Movement and Organizations like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). It was during these times Jackie Robinson wrote to important people in the United States ranging from Martin Luther King Jr. to President Richard Nixon. Through an analysis of Jackie Robinson’s letters and the impact of the integration of baseball, several truths about the Civil Rights Movement are revealed: the escalation of violence between the Civil Rights Movement and the opposition, the growing pressure on legislators about Civil Rights, and that the integration of African Americans in Major League Baseball impacted future Rights for African Americans.

     "Over the decades, African American teams played 445-recorded games against white teams, winning sixty-one percent of them." (Conrads, pg.8) The Negro Leagues were an alternative baseball group for African American baseball player that were denied the right to play with the white baseball payers in the Major League Baseball Association. In 1920, the first African American League was formed, and that paved the way for numerous African American innovation and movements. Fences, and Jackie Robinson: The Biography, raises consciousness about the baseball players that have been overlooked, and the struggle they had to endure simply because of their color.

Negro baseball leagues have a deep historical significance. Racism and “Jim Crow” laws encouraged segregation of African-Americans and whites. Arguably, the players on the negro baseball leagues were some of the best ever. Even today they are still being recognized and honored for their wonderful contribution to baseball as a whole. It started when major league owners had made a “gentleman’s agreement” to keep blacks from playing in the game. The barrier that went up was finally broken with a few black players being signed into white teams in the 1940s. It was once said by Martin Luther King Jr., “[Segregation] gives the segregator a false sense of superiority, it gives the segregated a false sense of inferiority.” While that is true of

Baseball has been known as America’s great sport since the 1920’s. Many people love to watch the games and create their own fantasy teams because they look up to the wide, diverse players on each team. Every team consists of males of different races and this helps bring culture into the great game. Having such a big diversity in one sport makes it easier for more people to enjoy because there is something in it for every person. However, baseball has not always been like this. From the very beginning of baseball, only white men were playing in the Major Leagues. African Americans were technically allowed to be on the team, but no one wanted them on the Major League teams. This was a time where African American’s were still treated badly and segregation was very big. People would not see an African American on a baseball team until the 1940’s. The first African American to play on a white team had to be the best at the game and needed the strength to withhold any feelings that would lead him to acting out because of the things the whites would do or say to him. This man happened to be the young, courageous Jackie Robinson. The hardships Jackie Robinson endured changed the game of baseball and still influences not just athletes, but people in every aspect of life.

Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby were very determined to stick with the game they loved and to make a change. Thanks to their performance both on and off the ball field, “other owners began to seek talented black players, and by 1952, there were 150 black players in organized baseball” (Branch). Their “actions had repercussions far beyond the sports world” (Jim). The integration of baseball was an enormous smack in the face to all of segregation. Many racial barriers quickly tumbled down with the integration of baseball; restaurants, hotels, and stores removed their “white only” signs bringing blacks and whites together. Robinson and Doby could not have won the battle against segregation on their own, the press helped to make their struggle to be known throughout the country.

Before 1947, Major League Baseball had never had a black player, although there were Negro Leagues. Jackie Robinson broke that. It takes courage and dedication to chase after something you love. Jackie had that for the game of baseball. The Civil Rights Movement was occurring during the time Jackie enter the Major Leagues, so the times were tough for him. Jackie did more than just play baseball; he introduced a whole new way to play the game, with blacks and whites. He did this by breaking the color barrier and introducing blacks into the Major Leagues, facing discrimination and showing his true passion for the game, and showing that he was looking to help all African-Americans in the civil rights movement.

The rise of Latino players is another factor that has hindered African Americans in the MLB. According the yearly research done by UCF, Richard Lapchick states that the league is composed of 28.5% Latinos and 8.3% African Americans as of Opening Day 2016. These numbers would’ve been the opposite 30 years ago, but since the late 1980s the numbers have switched. This can be attributed to the attempts of the MLB to extend their reach beyond the fifty states. Recently the league has begun to incorporate various parts of Latino culture, including the use of accents in players’ names on their jerseys as well as increasing their advertising in foreign countries. These changes implemented by the MLB are attempts to capture a fan base that has a deep

Baseball, America’s so-called national pastime, has a history that closely mirrors the country’s own. Specifically, for most of the first half of the twentieth century, white and black Americans played in entirely separate leagues like much of the heavily segregated society at the time. White owners and general managers would simply not allow black ballplayers on their teams, regardless of their skill level. While whites had organized baseball, a rigid professional system complete with minor leagues and farming system, blacks had their own all-black leagues. The history of these leagues is fairly complicated and follows a story-like arc with successes and failures. In Negro League Baseball: The Rise and Ruin of a Black Institution, historian Neil Lanctot explores the Negro baseball leagues beginning in the 1920s until their eventual collapse in the 1960s. Exceedingly well researched, Lanctot’s book probes the sport’s racial history on an almost season-by-season timeline and carefully shows what led to the league’s eventual demise.

Any sports one looks at can be classified as a money-making pit. Scouts looking at young talent ready to sign them for a quick buck and then once they stop producing, move on to the next potential talent. Baseball is the sport that is an industry dominated by trying to gain a profit from a region’s juvenile talent (Ruck). Since 1947, when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, there has been an increase in Latin American countries represented in MLB. More than a quarter of major league players are from Latin American, with about half of the minor league players being Latino (Ruck). On the opening day of the 2011 season, eighty-six players represented the Dominican Republic alone. That is more than a tenth of major leaguers (Ruck). One would

I would like to discuss the issue of race and ethnicity in sports. We will also explore the bigger questions. How much does race and ethnicity matter in the sports world? Are certain races dominant in certain sports? Is there a difference in how we treat players based on race and ethnicity? Does it matter? I would like to answer some of these questions and gain a better understanding of how much of a part they play.

The game of baseball has been argued to be the number one game in America and also around the world. Respectively the game is also known as “America’s pastime” had over 14 million people in the U.S. alone watching the World Series in 20151. Due to the growing popularity of baseball throughout the world the players of Major League Baseball (MLB) have become more diverse. Since 1950 when baseball started to grow in popularity the attendance per game has risen over 40%2.

The Negro Leagues, baseball leagues for merely black players, allowed urban communities to “pass down the tradition of ‘their’ game 25.” As the Negro leagues ended, baseball’s popularity diminished because it no longer acted as a unique and individualized aspect of African-American culture. The Negro Leagues and the black baseball movement inspired hope as a part of the larger civil rights movement of the 20th century and the black community utilized baseball “as a means of collective identity and civic pride 26.” African- American’s racial advances in baseball signaled the long term success of the larger civil rights movement of the 20th century. As a result, baseball became essential in identifying the progress and identity of African-American culture. Baseball lost its social prevalence after the African-American civil rights movement due to the emergence of other