By Bill Fletcher, Jr. | SACOBSERVER.COM WIRE SERVICES

(NNPA) - It is that time of year again and the teams are assembling to start spring training. This is a moment when I start getting excited anticipating opening day in Major League Baseball. Yet, once again, I find myself wondering about the future of Major League baseball in the US, particularly with regard to African Americans.

On Christmas Day 2009 I sat, for nearly the entire day, watching for my second time the Ken Burns documentary on baseball. Seeing the history of US baseball before my eyes, and particularly the African American contribution, stood in stark contrast to current realities and, specifically, the disconnect that has grown between African Americans and baseball. African American participation in baseball has gone from a high of 27 percent in 1975, to a low of 8.2 percent in 2007, and then up to 10.2 percent in 2009. Added to this are the anemic numbers in attendance in games, again standing in contrast to African American engagement during the time of the Negro Leagues, but also in the 1950s and 1960s.

There are many reasons that have been cited for this decline, but in many respects baseball has become a metaphor for the economic policies that the USA has been following since the late 1970s. With the rise of what is known as economic “neo-liberalism” there has been an increase in deregulation, contracting out, the shifting of the cost of work-necessary training onto the back of the worker, the relocation of manufacturing to either other countries or to rural areas in the USA, and a very anti-worker/anti-union climate.

What has happened in baseball? US baseball has never recruited solely from the United States. Players from Mexico and Cuba, for instance, have had a presence in the sport, not only in their own countries but also here in the USA. Yet what is particularly striking is that over the years, less and less attention has been placed on truly developing players from the USA, most especially African Americans. A decline in urban spaces for baseball diamonds has certainly contributed to the problem of a lack of engaged youth, certainly in contrast with basketball.

The owners have increasingly sought players from overseas, thereby avoiding the expense of cultivating domestic players. They have identified excellent players particularly from Latin America who are, quite logically, drawn to the USA with the possibility of larger salaries. Yet the net impact of this is that there is no investment in creating a domestic market of baseball players.

None of this would be a particular problem if there was a significant market for African American baseball players in other countries. There is not. And none of this is to bash the Latino or Asian players coming to the USA. There is no reason that they should not. The crime, and I do not use that word loosely, is that a sport that was central to the African American historical experience, has been ripped away from us by the actions of greedy owners, along with urban developers, with the latter grabbing any available land for yet another condominium or shopping center.

The Major League Baseball Players Association (the union representing players) has a campaign to renew interest in baseball in our cities. This is a good step, but far more needs to be done. If cities, for instance, are going to spend millions of dollars on new stadiums—which is not a good economic investment, by the way—why is there not a commitment by the baseball team owners toward investing in programs to encourage youth to enter into baseball? Why should there not be commitments to build baseball diamonds targeted at youth?

The simple answer, at least for now, is that there is no demand, and until and unless there is one, my guess is that the number of African American players will probably continue to fluctuate in the 8-10 percent slot, but more importantly, the sport will drift into the realm of an historical note for coming generations of African Americans.

Bill Fletcher, Jr. is a Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies, the immediate past president of TransAfrica Forum, and the co-author of “Solidarity Divide.” He can be reached at papaq54@hotmail.com.