Another Gem from Joe Morgan

[Adelpiero]

Web Page Name

Changing diversity: Astros first Series team in half-century without black player
By BEN WALKER, AP Baseball Writer
October 25, 2005

HOUSTON (AP) -- Joe Morgan worries about the face of baseball. Watching the World Series, the Hall of Famer is troubled by what he sees.

His old team, the Houston Astros, is down 2-0 to the Chicago White Sox, but it's not their lineup that concerns Morgan. It's their makeup.

The Astros are the first World Series team in more than a half-century with a roster that doesn't include a single black player.

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``Of course I noticed it. How could you not?'' Morgan said while the Astros took batting practice before the opener in Chicago. ``But they're not the only ones. There are two or three teams that didn't have any African-American players this year.''

Morgan said it's a predicament and a challenge for Major League Baseball. While more players from around the world are making it to the majors -- Japan, Korea, for example -- the number of blacks is declining.

``It's a daunting task to get African-American kids into baseball, and I don't see the trend changing,'' he said.

The last World Series team without a black player was the 1953 New York Yankees. It wasn't until 1955 -- eight years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947 -- that Elston Howard became the first black in Yankee pinstripes.

Black players accounted for just about 9 percent of big league rosters this season.

``We know that we have to work to do,'' Commissioner Bud Selig said Tuesday. ``We'll continue to intensify our efforts. I'm very aware, I'm extremely sensitive about it, and I feel badly about it. But we need to get to work to change things.''

Astros general manager Tim Purpura agrees.

``I think it's a huge, huge problem for baseball,'' he said. ``The pool of African-American players just isn't there. And as baseball becomes more college-oriented in its draft, there aren't a lot of players to pick.

``The African-American athletes are going into other sports,'' he said.

The most recent survey by the NCAA, taken during the 2003-04 season, showed that only 6 percent of Division I baseball players were black. Half of the men's basketball players were black, as were 44 percent of football players.

Houston has a half-dozen Hispanic players -- it was the first team to open a baseball academy in Venezuela, about a dozen years ago. Bench coach Cecil Cooper is black.

Outfielders Charles Gipson and Charlton Jimerson, both black, played for the Astros during the regular season.

The White Sox have three black players on their Series roster: Jermaine Dye, Carl Everett and Willie Harris, along with coaches Tim Raines and Harold Baines.

They also have eight Hispanic players and Japanese second baseman Tadahito Iguchi.

``We're diverse because we're looking for the best in talent and character,'' general manager Ken Williams said before the Series started. ``It just happened that way. I could care less what the makeup of the club is as long as it works as a whole.''

Williams is the only black general manager in the majors. A former big league outfielder, he joined the White Sox in 1992 as a scout, confident he could find players in the inner cities. After a year of trying, Williams felt as if he'd failed.

Morgan is disturbed by what he's found, too.

A two-time NL MVP, Morgan helped Cincinnati win two straight championships. In 1976, along with fellow black teammates Ken Griffey, George Foster and Dan Driessen, the Big Red Machine swept a Yankees team that had 10 black players on its roster.

Just 10 years ago, Atlanta and Cleveland each had five black players when they met in the World Series.

In 2003, Derek Jeter and the Yankees lost to Florida. Jeter's father is black and his mother is white; the All-Star shortstop has said he considers himself both black and white.

``There's a perception among African-American kids that they're not welcome here, that baseball is not for inner-city kids,'' Morgan said. ``It's not true, and I hate that the perception is out there.''

[Shoalzie]

I was thinking that a little...the Astros don't have any brothers on their team do they? Not something I'd write about to bring to everyone's attention but I found it interesting. The Sox have only Jermaine Dye...they're mostly white dudes and Latin players.

[WolverineSteve]

Who gives a fuck. There isn't affirmative action in sports like there is elswhere. The best players get to the top.

[Jack]

Web Page Name

Changing diversity: Astros first Series team in half-century without black player
By BEN WALKER, AP Baseball Writer
October 25, 2005

HOUSTON (AP) -- Joe Morgan worries about the face of baseball. Watching the World Series, the Hall of Famer is troubled by what he sees.

His old team, the Houston Astros, is down 2-0 to the Chicago White Sox, but it's not their lineup that concerns Morgan. It's their makeup.

The Astros are the first World Series team in more than a half-century with a roster that doesn't include a single black player.

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``Of course I noticed it. How could you not?'' Morgan said while the Astros took batting practice before the opener in Chicago. ``But they're not the only ones. There are two or three teams that didn't have any African-American players this year.''

''

Willy's Dominican!!
He's light Black!



Jose is also Dominican and light Black!



Ezequiel Astacio would definitely be considered to be Black! (He's also Dominican).

So, what are you looking for Black or African American???

Hell, not many teams have White Germans!!

[Jack]

I was thinking that a little...the Astros don't have any brothers on their team do they? Not something I'd write about to bring to everyone's attention but I found it interesting. The Sox have only Jermaine Dye...they're mostly white dudes and Latin players.

There is a question can you be LATIN and Black or are they mutually exclusive??


Jose Contreras


Orlando Hernandez


Carl Everett



Willie Harris

and not to mention THE BIG HURT..

[JCT]

Fuck Joe Morgan.

[PrimeX]

Our team don't smell like french fries.

[Laxplayer]

I wonder if Joe will ever comment that there are many NBA teams without white players. If you're the best at something then you make it to the top. Besides in many black neighborhoods the parks have been over run with gangs and drug dealers. If Joe wants to change things why not get the gangsters and drug dealers out and build a baseball field, keep it up, pay for the poor kids to play, get them equipment etc......?

[Funkywhiteboy]

Thank goodness Joe Morgan isn't a hockey commentator! :P

[Screw_Michigan]

if you exclude latinos from being considered black, there really aren't that many around anymore. baseball stopped being the dominant sport in the inner city over a decade ago and the effects are showing.

[Shoalzie]

I was thinking that a little...the Astros don't have any brothers on their team do they? Not something I'd write about to bring to everyone's attention but I found it interesting. The Sox have only Jermaine Dye...they're mostly white dudes and Latin players.

There is a question can you be LATIN and Black or are they mutually exclusive??


Jose Contreras


Orlando Hernandez


Carl Everett



Willie Harris

and not to mention THE BIG HURT..

I know, major brainfart on my part. For some reason, the only guy I could think of at the time was Dye. I can't believe I forgot about Everett and Thomas. Harris got into the game last night too.

Regardless, it was a silly thing to bring up on Morgan's part. Only a black guy could bring that sort of thing up. If Jayson Stark wrote that article, it would cause an uproar.

[Headhunter]

Actually, this isn't some new issue for Morgan. I've heard him pimping this several times. He usually waits for the big stage so he gets more exposure. Last time was the All-Star game.

If you hear him talk about it, he actually makes some sense and isn't just trotting out the race card for effect. He's not pointing fingers at MLB owners, he's looking for help promoting the game to inner-city youths to help stock up the talent in the years to come. He's teamed up with MLB to provide diamonds and equipment to inner cities.

[Cicero]

Who gives a fuck. There isn't affirmative action in sports like there is elswhere. The best players get to the top.

Agree w/ that shit right there. I am so damn tired of this shit that the number of blacks in baseball are dwindling. What about the declining number of whites in basketball and football? i dont see anyone stepping up to bitch about that. Black kids dont want to play baseball. They want to play b-ball and football. Plus, those sports you dont have to work as hard on mechanics to be good as you do in baseball. All you have to do is be able to run fast and jump and they draft you on potential. Baseball you actually ahve to have skill to play the game.

[Funkywhiteboy]

The White Sox won the World Series because they had more team speed.

Sin, Fisher DeBerry

[Snooze Baton]

African Americans make up a mere 10% of baseball's players. Why is it a surprise that a few teams have none when the average is only 2.5/team? Some have more, some have less... that's why it's an average.

STFU Joe Morgan. :roll:

If dude was really worried about his race, he'd be asking why there isn't more black scientists or teachers or some other shit. :roll: I.E.,... is The Man stopping them from pursuing real careers?

[Dslayer]

Screw Michigan wrote:

...baseball stopped being the dominant sport in the inner city over a decade ago and the effects are showing.

Such as the inmates aren't running the asylum like basketball.

[indyfrisco]

So Joe wants MLB to implement the affirmative action law? Sign less qualified players based on how quickly the water beads off their hair???

[chowd103]

Joe Morgan should be the next MLB commissioner. Yeah!
Holla!!!
Reconize a playa when you see him on the street!