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March 17, 2007^10:28am
Jaydawg^7
"Lack of Black players in baseball has become a crisis", says Indians pitcher C.C. Sabathia
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17615845/
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     Even with RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) and other programs, inner city kids are still becoming less interested in baseball.  In '97, I went to the "Jackie Robinson Night" at Dodger Stadium, celebrating the 40th anniversary of breaking the color barrier and was surprised to see very few Blacks in attendance.  Very few inner city kids realize that it's a whole lot more difficult to make it into the NBA--or even the NFL-- than Major League Baseball.   MLB has 25 player rosters, while the NBA only has 12 spots with fewer teams.  In recent years, I've seen a few ESPN documenteries of your average 5'8 High School Juniors with asperations of being the next Lebron James and when asked about baseball, kids would generally say how "slow and booorrrring" it is.  The main reason why baseball has lost its luster in the inner cities is because of a lack of promotion.  David Stern does a tremendous job of this in the NBA with "I Love This Game" and other slogans, along with some mandatory charity work in the inner cities.  Bud Selig could learn a lot from Stern.