When
one thinks of the elite African-American baseball players of the
past, present and future, you quickly realize that these are many of
the great faces of the game no matter their ethnicity. Jackie
Robinson, Andrew McCutchen, Dazmon
Cameron,
Hank Aaron, Jason Heyward and Jahmai
Jones
are all front of mind when compiling that list.
While
you may not be aware of Cameron or Jones, chances are that you will
be in the next few years. Both are top
prospects
as we draw closer to the 2015 MLB First-Year Player Draft, both are
African-American and both are headliners in the 12th edition of the
Perfect
Game All-American Classic
to be played at Petco Park on Sunday, August 10.
The
annual contest features a collection of elite players beginning their
final year of high school and will be televised on the MLB Network.
Cameron
and Jones also share the roster with 12 additional African-American
players and represent a number that can do nothing but encourage
those that have been discouraged by the downturn of the number of
African-Americans on Major League Baseball rosters. It’s a stat
that caught the suddenly optimistic eye of 2004 PG All-American and
current Atlanta Braves outfielder Justin Upton.
“I
think it’s awesome,” Upton said Wednesday at Dodger Stadium. “The
numbers have been down lately and the Perfect Game All-American is a
big event. To have African-American players playing at an elite level
again is awesome. It’s very good to see.”
According
to the 2013 United States Census, an estimated 13.2 percent of the
nation’s population is African American. While on Opening Day 2014,
Major League Baseball research tells us that 8.3 percent of players
on rosters identified themselves as African-American or black. But
with 14 of the 54 players on this year’s All-American roster
African-Americans, quick math puts that number at close to 26
percent.
“I
actually believe it’s growing. I haven’t really done the research
to have the actual numbers, but I see it growing,” said Perfect
Game President Jerry Ford. “At our National Showcase this year it
was phenomenal how many African American players were there. We’re
looking for the very best players in the United States. At that
level, if you’re looking at the top 300 high school age players in
the United States, that number’s definitely growing.”
Ford,
who founded Perfect Game in 1995, estimated that close to 23 percent
of the players that took part in the National
Showcase
this past June in Fort Myers, Florida were African-American. Major
League Baseball and team executives, scouts and MLB Players
Association leaders all joined Ford at the showcase. He joins them in
the passion and drive to have those numbers back up at the big league
level.
“I
look at it partly from a baseball fan perspective. Let’s face it,
some of the greatest, as a matter of fact many of the greatest
players that we have known and have ever seen, are
African-Americans,” Ford shared, “So it just stands to reason
that the game would be better if more African-Americans were
participating.”
Royal
Palm Beach Community High School’s Triston McKenzie is the top
ranked righthanded pitcher in the state of Florida according to
Perfect Game. He’s an All-American and an African-American. The
Vanderbilt commit has a firm grasp on the past, while looking forward
to tomorrow.
“I
think it’s a great thing to see other African-American baseball
players and it’s a great thing for the sport. Before, we weren’t
even in the league with the other players,” McKenzie said. “We
were in our separate league and we were integrated with the help of
Jackie Robinson and other black baseball players. Now we’ve come to
the point where there are eight or nine percent out of thirty teams.
Hopefully that number will increase.”
The
only science behind the optimism about the possible growth in the
numbers at the big league level is the actual history of the Perfect
Game All-American Classic.
In
the first 12 years of the game’s existence, 149 alumni of the game
have been taken in the first round of the MLB First-Year Player Draft
and 84 have advanced their careers all the way to the major leagues.
Therefore, with a higher percentage of African-American players
playing in an event that sends so many to the highest level, one
could take the leap that MLB rosters could take on a different look
over the next decade.
“It’s
exciting. It just so happens that this year, and by the way it looks
like it’s going to be this way next year also, that number has
pretty much doubled,” Ford added. “I think more can be done to
increase those numbers. Looking at our rosters for the All-American
game and then going back and looking at some of the players we’ve
seen this year, to be honest with you there’s a few more
[African-American players] that we could’ve named.
“Kids
like Jalen
Miller;
as far as I’m concerned he belongs in that game. But you run out of
positions and you run out of the East/West combinations, so you just
can’t include everybody. But I really believe that if you were to
take the top 100 players in the country this year, at least 25
percent of them would be African Americans.”
In
the McKenzie household, Triston, one of those top 100, learned the
game from dad Stainten. Not only has he learned it; he’s loved it
and flourished. Two summers ago, he was 6-foot-2 and threw 79 mph. At
the National Showcase a few months back he towered to 6-foot-5 and
touched 92.
“My
dad is a very loving and caring person and I think that he would do
anything in the world for me,” the younger McKenzie shared. “He’s
been there for me since I was born and he taught me the game of
baseball. He taught me the game I love. He really liked baseball and
to help me with the game he would study the game. He would watch
baseball non-stop and learn tips from pro guys just to teach me
things.”
MLB’s
Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities program has impacted more than one
million young athletes in its history of more than two decades. Some
of the program's alumni include Justin Upton, James Loney and Coco
Crisp. Their mission has many layers, but to increase
the number of talented athletes prepared to play in college and minor
leagues
sounds very similar to the passion of Ford.
“I
love baseball,” Ford said. “Whatever I think would make baseball
better and more popular in every way, I support it. I’ve had people
ask me why I’m so interested in this subject and I almost get this
feeling that somebody’s going to turn it into some type of racial
discussion. To me it isn’t that at all. I like baseball. I want
what’s best for baseball, which means the best players and the best
athletes.
“When
I was young, Willie Mays was my favorite player. I keep thinking,
‘what would this game have been like if Willie Mays would have been
a football player or a basketball player?’ You just go right down
the list; guys like Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds, these guys are
the game. These guys are part of the game, a big part of the game. So
I don’t want the next young potential Willie Mays to never hit a
baseball field.”
It’s
only one game, but it may be worth keeping an eye on the impact it
may have over the next few years.