Benjie Wimberly has seen African-Americans nearly disappear from the baseball fields of Paterson, N.J.
Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia can't help but notice the shortage of black players in Major League Baseball clubhouses. Corey Patterson, a Milwaukee Brewers minor-leaguer after being released by the Washington Nationals last month, says he wonders why black backups "aren't given an opportunity."
And Mets outfielder Gary Sheffield has just one word for it, a simple explanation why young African-Americans aren't picking up bats and gloves:
Injustice.
"Because there's not enough black players talked about in a positive fashion, and it's all negative, so nobody wants to go into a negative situation," Sheffield says. "And (black major-leaguers are) not able to put ourselves in a position to talk good about this game because the only thing you can say about it is it's been good to you financial-wise and you get to play."
Young African-Americans virtually are absent from Little League to the major leagues, the result of a sharp, long-term decline in participation that has left a void in baseball.
Although the vacuum is most recognizable in the big leagues, the problem begins on dusty baseball fields around North Jersey and the rest of America, in places such as Paterson, Hackensack and Teaneck.
The explanations for the decline range from the leisurely -- and sometimes snail -- pace of the game to racism in the media and baseball establishment, players and observers contend.
But there's no denying the lack of black influence on today's game.
According to the most recent figures, only 10.2 percent of major-leaguers are African-American, despite the first increase in black players since 1995 (2 percent). That is far less than the number of African-Americans who played in 1975 (27.5 percent).
Sheffield is the only American-born black player in the Mets' clubhouse. Sabathia, Derek Jeter and the newly acquired Jerry Hairston Jr. are the only Yankees of African-American descent.
A Harris Poll survey in January revealed that just 8 percent of African-Americans chose baseball as their favorite sport -- the smallest number along racial lines -- 62 years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier.
And in Paterson, the city that produced the first black American Leaguer in Larry Doby, baseball fields stand empty, while basketball courts overflow.
"There's been a major, major drop-off," said Wimberly, the director of recreation in Paterson and former baseball coach at Eastside. "I coached high school baseball and Mickey Mantle, and the number of African-Americans participating has dropped drastically.
"I would say in our Little League, African-Americans may make up 15 percent, and that might be a high number."
Blacks make up about one-third of the population in Paterson.
'A perfect storm'
The root causes for the lack of African-Americans on all levels are as numerous as they are complex, despite several initiatives by Major League Baseball.
"A perfect storm was created," said Jimmie Lee Solomon, executive vice president of baseball operations for MLB.
--As youth programs dried up the past three decades, basketball courts offered an inexpensive substitute. Then the NBA exploded in popularity.
"Dr. J came along, then Magic Johnson and then Michael Jordan. They got icons that transcended the sport," Solomon said. ". . . It's like golf with Tiger Woods. Tiger didn't save golf. But he made it cool."
--Despite initiatives such as the Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) program and the Urban Youth Academy in Compton, Calif., many believe Major League Baseball still has not done enough to penetrate America's inner cities. Hank Aaron called on baseball to do more in June to increase participation.
--Baseball's marketing lags behind the NFL and NBA, especially when it comes to exposing its young, black stars, some players said.
"You look at the TV, you see LeBron (James) and you see Kobe (Bryant)," Sabathia said. "You don't see Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins or these guys out there."
--College baseball programs have just 11.7 scholarships to offer, meaning most players do not get free rides -- or even 50 percent scholarships -- unlike football (85 full scholarships) and basketball (13 full scholarships).
--Baseball has been a game passed down from father to son for generations. The absence of fathers in urban communities may have fractured that link.
"Baseball is a sport where you have to have a dad to teach you how to play catch, and a dad to be there with you to teach you the game," Sabathia said. "There's not a lot of dads in the community these days just for whatever reason."
--The increasing importance of travel teams on youth development may prevent working class and poor families from participating.
--The influx of new ballparks has fueled rising ticket prices, putting the game out of reach for many families. The cost of the average ticket rose 5 percent in 2009 to $26.64, according to the Team Marketing Report. The Fan Cost Index, which measures the cost to take a family of four to a game, including food and parking, rose 3.2 percent to $196.79.
And the average Yankees ($72.97) and Mets ($36.99) non-premium ticket cost far more than the MLB average.
Fewer chances?
A cloud also hangs over the game, according to some, one that rarely is mentioned: racism, or at least the perception of racism.
Some African-American major-leaguers contend it exists in media coverage and the baseball establishment itself, claiming mistakes by young, black men are blown out of proportion and never are forgotten -- or forgiven.
"It's a lot tougher on African-Americans when they do something wrong in the game of baseball, and (Hispanic) people too, I believe so," said Washington Nationals outfielder Elijah Dukes. "I think if you do something one year, it won't go away for 10 years.
"... They kind of make it feel like we don't have a chance."
Sheffield agrees.
"Everything is controlled by the pen and paper or the TV, 'cause you can edit it," he said. "You can write it how you want. But is that really how it is? Perception is reality."
There is also an inequity in the jobs available to African-Americans, according to Patterson.
"I think, honestly, a lot of times we're not given the opportunity," the former top prospect said. "Meaning, do you ever see too many African-American backup catchers? Utility infielders? Fourth outfielders? ...
"It just seems to me if you look at all the African-Americans in the game, they're either an All-Star or they're a borderline All-Star. I just think you almost have to do something very far beyond the norm" to keep your job.
And Sheffield wonders why MLB has established youth academies in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, among other nations, but has built just two in the United States, with one more under construction.
"I've always said if you can go and put academies in the Dominican and all these other places, why can't you force each owner to invest $7 million in their own cities?" he asked.
'Mad boring'
No matter what the reasons, baseball largely has lost two generations of African-American youth to basketball, football and other interests, according to some young Paterson residents.
Sade Parks, 15, a student at Eastside, played baseball when he was younger but gave up the sport.
"It was mad boring. There was no excitement," he said while working out recently in Eastside Park. "I've played football since I was 3 or 4. I like the contact. I like being able to express myself. You can't express yourself playing baseball.
"All you can do is make contact with the bat. There's no fun with that. You can do other stuff in basketball and football. You can cross over. You can pump fake. Juke. Spin. You can't do that in baseball."
Dayshawn Stephens, 13, was more blunt.
"I don't like anything about baseball," said the seventh-grade football player.
Those comments bother Wimberly.
"In Paterson, basketball alone is the sport," said the city's recreation director. "It's the glamour. I hate to see it, working in recreation. I see some of these kids not even make their high school team" but they refuse to play another sport.
Teaneck baseball coach Ed Klimek has stopped begging black athletes to play on his team. It's just no use.
Klimek, a former assistant coach with the Teaneck football team, had asked some of his black athletes why they had no interest. The answers were almost always the same, he says: Baseball is boring and slow.
"I've done it long enough," he said. "If a kid's heart is not into it, you can't beg them."
Klimek, who is also the camp director at Teels Baseball Training Center in Wyckoff and Closter, said he rarely sees African-American kids seek private instruction at the facility.
"If 1 percent (of African-American kids are the) customer base, it's a lot," he said.
Jimmy LaRose, a Hackensack middle school physical education teacher and former Hackensack baseball coach, has noticed that many kids of all races don't know the rules of baseball.
That's something Major League Baseball has also noticed. It's no longer waiting for inner city kids to find the game. Instead, it's bringing baseball to them.
MLB reaches out
Solomon said access has been the biggest roadblock for young African-Americans, something MLB is trying to fix.
"I don't think it's racism," he said. "I just think it's access."
That means building fields in congested inner cities. It means supplying new equipment. It means providing coaches who give proper instruction.
And it means ensuring that inner city kids have access to all of the above before their teen years so they can develop baseball-specific skills.
"If you don't learn it early, even if you're a great athlete, the first time you play you experience failure, you don't want to do it again," Solomon said.
MLB's RBI program alone has reached more than a million kids the past two decades. RBI alums include Sabathia, Carl Crawford (who was named MVP of last month's All-Star Game), Coco Crisp, James Loney and Justin Upton. Jersey City and Newark participate in the program.
"Beyond the major-leaguers, we're producing major league citizens," said David James, director of the RBI program, "because not every RBI participant is going to play in the major leagues."
MLB also is building another urban youth academy near Miami, and plans to expand the program to New Orleans, Philadelphia and Washington.
But baseball will have to win back a community that largely has abandoned the game, viewing it as no longer culturally relevant.
Mets manager Jerry Manuel, an African-American, said younger generations of black sports fans just lost interest in the game. He says MLB is working on that.
"I think they're doing everything they can to make it appealing to young African-Americans to play," Manuel said.
"I like the NBA, just like anybody else. I think it's very entertaining. I think as long as we continue to put accessible facilities in these inner cities ... I think (baseball) will become somewhat appealing to them. But I think right now, basketball is just one of those sports that they identify with more than they identify here."
But Sheffield thinks African-Americans will ignore baseball until its young stars are no longer treated or portrayed differently. And until then, he said he will continue to speak out.
"When I see injustice being pushed upon a certain race constantly, constantly, and I'm in a position where I can speak about it, I will," Sheffield said. "And if you send me home, that's fine, but I'm more willing to take that chance more so than other guys because I believe in my talent that much that I can say this."
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