Ian Desmond wrote a long statement yesterday on his Instagram, and if you haven’t read it yet, well, you should. It’s about a lot of things, but mainly it’s about how baseball is failing its next generation, and specifically its next generation of Black kids, in the same ways that the country is failing its next generation, and specifically its next generation of Black kids.
He also announced he’ll be sitting out the season, so naturally that’s what the headlines have been about. This is vital information for our nation’s fantasy teams!
Desmond talks about a chronic underinvestment in poorer Black communities, and how that means that kids who would have something special at a baseball field — a place where, no matter where they came from or how much money their parents had, someone would care about them — can’t find that. A generation of kids — again, specifically Black kids — are deprived of the resources to succeed.
Desmond talks about his myriad experiences with racism as a mixed-race American, some specific memories (hearing teammates yell “White power!” before games) and some facts of his everyday life (seeing women clutch their purses when he walks down the street). He talks about racism both on the field and off, because baseball is part of the fabric of American life and the fabric of American life has a whole lot of racist threads in it.
Which brings me to my question for Major League Baseball:
Aren’t sports always saying they can lead the way in society? That athletic competition brings out the best in us, allows us to see each other as fellow people instead of members of competing tribes? That sports build character and spirit, and that’s why they’re so important and interesting? That through sports, we can break down walls and build bridges and whatever other metaphors you want for Good Stuff Instead Of Bad Stuff?
Is baseball doing a single fucking thing to perpetuate any of that?
If baseball wants to talk about its leadership in the civil rights era, if baseball wants to tout Jackie Robinson until there’s a Jackie Robinson-shaped hole in their lungs, if baseball wants to be thought of as a force for progress instead of a pure nostalgia trip, then baseball needs to step the fuck up.
9 years after Robinson broke the color barrier, in 1956, Black players made up 6.7% of players in the majors. 70 years after Robinson broke the color barrier, in 2017, Black players made up 7.7% of players in the majors (source). Some of that flat line of non-progress is because there are other sports, yes. But a whole lot of it is because baseball just doesn’t cater to Americans who aren’t rich anymore.
Youth baseball players are discovered on travel teams, not in Little Leagues. Travel teams cost money and time; Little Leagues are seeing less and less money all the time. MLB could step in here and prioritize baseball for everyone, let kids play no matter what, foot the bill in order to appeal to a new generation. But they haven’t, and they won’t, because it turns out footing a bill costs money that they don’t want to pay, and the travel team system is working perfectly well for an organization that places no value on diversity.
Perhaps you think “places no value on diversity” is a harsh statement. I regret to inform you that it is not:
Without non-white people leading the sport, the sport will not have to think about race. Baseball will be able to brand itself as a meritocracy while giving inherent structural advantages to white kids that its leadership either doesn’t see or doesn’t see the importance of.
And so that leadership role that baseball is always talking about — which is, if you’ll recall, the entire public justification for playing a season during a pandemic — is meaningless. Baseball is not here to serve as a public good, and it’s flabbergasting they’re even trying to sell themselves as one after bilking the city of Miami for $2 billion for the Marlins’ stadium. It’s not here to heal racial divides or open up dialogues.
It’s just here.
Baseball can be a leader, if it wants to. It can put money into underserved communities without expecting a guaranteed profit somewhere down the line. It can do more than just the RBI program by really making an effort to bring the game, and a safe space, to neighborhoods where those spaces are in short supply.
Instead, Ian Desmond is going back to his old stamping grounds. He’s going to work to help Sarasota Youth Baseball. It is a good thing that he’s doing, and presumably safer than a major league season too. It’s selfless. It’s leadership. It’s nothing like Major League Baseball.