ESPN did a great job on Sunday night baseball with the Jackie Robinson story. Great interviews in the booth with an elegant Rachel Robinson, turbulent and dignified Hank Aaron, and always-edgy Frank Robinson. All these people, and Dave Winfield, too, lamented the fact that just 8 percent of MLB players now are black. The Astros and the Braves have no blacks on their teams, Joe Morgan said.
I miss the black players too. (Frank Robinson changed my life in ’66). But maybe it’s a sign of something good. All kids dream of athletic stardom. Most of us get that dreamed knocked out pretty early. Desperate kids hang on longer. Is the absence of black players a sign of black progress? Is the black middle class growing? Do black kids now have more conventional choices than they did a generation ago? ESPN ought to consider these questions.
