Filed under: Baseball
TheGrio.com is reporting that there is a group of black women in Philadelphia who've taken it upon themselves to get their sons involved in baseball. In 1974, 27 percent of the players in Major League Baseball were African American. Today, that number is only nine percent. These women are hoping to change that.
The author of the article, Chris Murray, says that one of the obstacles to black boys being more involved in baseball is that many of them come from single parent homes. Their mothers, perhaps unaware of the benefits of playing the sport, may not encourage their sons to participate. The black athlete's skills, which typically get applied to basketball and football, are likely to thrive on the baseball field and tennis courts, where their participation is not nearly as likely. Also, the cultural infrastructure of basketball and football give it a leg up in the minds of black boys when they are choosing which sports to play.
Two women, Cheryl A. Mobley-Stimpson and Sarah J. Glover, have an interest in seeing their boys play baseball. Mobley-Stimpson runs a Facebook group called Philly Sports Moms. They both mention that the white male-dominated world of youth league baseball creates some racial hurdles. Black boys are typically first-generation players, while the white kids have family members who've been part of the league for years.
Major League Baseball should get involved in recruiting black males to play the sport. This should also be true in tennis, golf and other sports that we traditionally choose not to play. While we are quick to flood the basketball courts, there are thousands of Venus and Serenas out there who've never had a chance to play any sport at all. Additionally, participation in sports teaches lifelong lessons about hard work, consistency, persistence, goal-setting and determination. It was by applying what I'd learned from participating in track and field that I became a straight A student in college. The key was setting goals and working hard each day to achieve them.
For single mothers raising black boys, it's important to ensure that your sons are getting proper role models. Find productive males in your community who are willing to provide some guidance and encouraging words for your sons as they go through their most difficult experiences. It's tough to figure out how to be a man, and while many women are confident in believing that they can teach a boy to be a man, the truth is that differences in gender-based perceptions are difficult to ignore. I personally don't feel that I have any ability whatsoever to teach my daughters how to be women, but i can certainly help to teach them how to relate to men.
Get your boys into sports, but teach them to use sports as an avenue for success in all their endeavors. Athletics can be a pathway to academic, professional and social success. Additionally, seek out sports that are different. We don't need more kids doing the same old stuff.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.