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Did MLB integration kill black interest in baseball?

posted 8 years ago by Trackmaster
3 replies | jump to latest

After seeing this movie, I did some reading up on the history of the Negro Leagues. It dates back to the 1860's at minimum, and possible goes back further (just like how the true originals of the professional leagues are a little hazy). The charters for the white leagues did not explicit forbid black players, but they heavily encouraged teams to blackball black players (not pun intended). However, the Negro Leagues were very popular in black communities, and still drew huge crowds. It wasn't like the WNBA that was funded by the NBA to absorb losses to spur interest in basketball for women.

However, Jackie Robinson and integration quickly killed off the Negro Leagues (which admittedly had been struggling for a few years at that point). The result was whites, blacks, and Latinos playing for an audience of mostly white people. And it continues to this day, you have many black superstars, but still mostly white fans. But as we can see from the movie, there was a time that baseball was just as much a part of black lives as white lives.

[–] kinickibeck 8 years ago

Integration killed everything for black ppl. We had doctor lawyers business's black wall Street. We were better off as a whole in many ways. We didnt have gangs or absent fathers or welfare or single mothers. We werent all poor many of us were middle- upper middle class or wealthy. Sometimes I think we should have stayed segregated. We have been exploited through integration, I know that was not MLK intention, and if he had lived he would have fought against many of the government schemes and plots in bringing down the black race (Vient name, lower wages and opportunity compared to whites, welfare, putting drugs in the neighbourhoods, higher incarceration sentencing for blacks etc) what so ever but it happened.

[–] stefan899 8 years ago

Yeah I was suprised, I never realised how much blacks loved baseball at the time from watching this movie, but I guess this was a time when the NBA was just starting out and hadnt yet formed that connection with the black community.

[–] IcingOnTheCake 8 years ago

It had much to do about cost and dress. The mainstream league had higher ticket prices and men wen to the games in suits, generally. There were though still minor and other leagues. Negroes could then try out for the mainstream league. Many teams would then take them, they wanted stars and wins, after Jackie Robinson. JR was chosen because he was well liked as much as he was chosen for his baseball skills. There were other women who had refused to go to the back of the bus before Rosa Parks. She was chosen as the focus because she was well liked and had a spotless background. It mattered then. It shouldn't have. At least though they paved the way for the future.

It's good that now men of all color are given a chance. It would be better if women were also now given a chance. A woman had struck out Babe Ruth. Everyone should be given an equal chance and the best ones should get the slots on the teams. I'm willing to bet the best female ball player is better than the worst pro male in all respective sports. The legal sexism needs to go just as the legal racism has, at least mainstream.