Chris Rock’s Take on Blacks in Baseball: Real Sports

[AngelsandDodgersFan]

Two of the three players you mentioned would be considered imposters.  Reginald Martinez Jackson was born to a Puerto Rican woman and a half Puerto Rican man, and Rod Carew was Panamanian.   Using Torii Hunter's logic, 67% of your examples were not black.

True, it was late night when I did my post and those were all I could think of quickly. We also had Don Baylor, Eddie Murray, Darryl Strawberry, Doc Gooden. I believe this post is now 100%  . 

[Inside Pitch]

True, it was late night when I did my post and those were all I could think of quickly. We also had Don Baylor, Eddie Murray, Darryl Strawberry, Doc Gooden. I believe this post is now 100%  . 

 

LOL....  Mostly I was popping Torii....     

 

The 70s were the golden age for blacks in baseball, blacks made up 28% of the players at it's peak in 1975.

 

Pretty sure they counted the imposters.

Edited April 23, 2015 by Inside Pitch

[yk9001]

At one point in this country, boxing and horse racing were the number 2 and 3 most popular sports in this country.  Things can change.

 

There will always be a very large place for baseball in this country, though, in my opinion.

 

 

 

So many kids start out playing T-ball and LL still.  Once kids get "weeded out" by 12 or 13 there are a small group of hardcore/year round travel ball kids.

 

The 'weeded out' kids go on to other sports or interests.  My unqualified view is that those kids are kinda lost for good.

[Coachbulldog]

And so once again, black people themselves are not responsible for anything.

And because Koreans flip bats, white people are at fault for bean balls in MLB.

Got it Rock. Danke.

 

In this case, what should black people be responsible for?

[laagamer]

Can I be honest? I might be biased because I'm white, but who ****ing cares?


Why are we making baseball about race?

If you don't like BASEBALL, don't ****ing watch it. 

 

EDIT: And if you're not watching it because there are no black players, then you're missing the point entirely. 

Edited April 23, 2015 by laagamer

[NrM]

Can I be honest? I might be biased because I'm white, but who ****ing cares?

Why are we making baseball about race?

If you don't like BASEBALL, don't ****ing watch it.

EDIT: And if you're not watching it because there are no black players, then you're missing the point entirely.

it's the fact that the mlb has become unappealing to the younger generation.

Games being over 3 hours long is a factor imo.

Edited April 23, 2015 by Poozy

[Tank]

you have to have a lot of patience to watch baseball. there are nuances and subtleties that take a different kind of attention than football, basketball or hockey. i don't think nearly as many kids today have the patience required to settle in and watch.

[Angel Oracle]

As popular as football is, how long before the players become too fast and strong for too many to not be able to absorb those hits?

Twenty years from now, football may become more difficult to manage thanks to too many violent hits.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

 

One of my favorite scenes from Airplane - complete with English subtitles.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

I think one reason that baseball is not popular with young people is that you have a generation of kids now who could not stay up late to watch prime time World Series games on the East Coast. When you remove your crown jewel event from your demographic of the future, you reap what you sow.

 

Baseball has always had this problem. Unlike the NFL, which tiers its games in two time slots on game days, MLB has them all over the map. I was an Atlanta Braves fan beginning with their move from Milwaukee in 1966, making them the first MLB team in the southeast. When divisional play began, for whatever reason the powers-that-be stuck a team from Georgia in the NL West - which meant divisional road games at Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego. On the rare occasions when they were in a pennant race, this meant game starts at 10 PM local time, with the games ending after 1 AM - not great if you had to go to class or work the next morning.

Edited April 24, 2015 by Vegas Halo Fan

[ABC]

This is extremely scary.  Teams are too focused on maximizing ticket revenue right now and it's going to cost them in the long term.  When I was in high school my buddies and I would go to a ton of Angels games because you could get children tix in the left field pavilion for $5 and they even had the Tuesday kids ticket deal for $3 uppers one year.  There is no way my friends and I would've paid the prices they are charging these days to go to games since in high school money is tough to come by and I can only assume current high school kids feel the same way.  They need to go back to the old theory of cheap seats to fill the ball park on a nightly basis rather than maximizing ticket revenue (not just the Angels, all teams).  

 

Aren't baseball tix the least expensive of all major sports?

[Blarg]

5 out of 6 tv viewers are white, and the average age of viewers is 53.

 

if he's right, that's kind of scary.

 

Chris Rock is 50. 

[dimitrig]

Baseball: Too many games which take too long and are sometimes boring

 

I say this as a fan. It is a sport that takes some time to appreciate, like soccer.

[ScottT]

I think one reason that baseball is not popular with young people is that you have a generation of kids now who could not stay up late to watch prime time World Series games on the East Coast. When you remove your crown jewel event from your demographic of the future, you reap what you sow.

 

NBA Finals games last year mostly started at 9 ET... two were scheduled for 8 ET.  

[Mark68]

Baseball: Too many games which take too long and are sometimes boring

 

I say this as a fan. It is a sport that takes some time to appreciate, like soccer.

Who appreciates soccer?

 

Other than non-Americans and people who live in the Pacific Northwest?

[NrM]

Who appreciates soccer?

 

Other than non-Americans and people who live in the Pacific Northwest?

 

I see more soccer discussion than I do baseball.

I rarely come across someone who actually watches games on tv. It feels like the people who are 20-40 years old that actually watch games on tv/mlb.tv are going extinct.

 

Maybe that has more to do with living in Orange County.

Edited April 24, 2015 by Poozy

[Vegas Halo Fan]

NBA Finals games last year mostly started at 9 ET... two were scheduled for 8 ET.

NBA games usually don't run for three and a half hours.

[NrM]

the rule change that doesn't allow batters to step out of the box has done jack shit.

 

Calhoun still takes his sweet time, adjusting his gloves and taking practice swings between every pitch.

Edited April 24, 2015 by Poozy

[dimitrig]

Who appreciates soccer?

 

Other than non-Americans and people who live in the Pacific Northwest?

 

Are you agreeing with me?

 

I think baseball is headed toward the same demographic.

Edited April 24, 2015 by dimitrig

[ScottT]

NBA playoff games averaged 2 hours 40 minutes in 2013. I'm guessing that hasn't decreased.

It's not the start times or the length of games. It's the nature of the games and that isn't going to change much.

[NrM]

NBA playoff games averaged 2 hours 40 minutes in 2013. I'm guessing that hasn't decreased.

It's not the start times or the length of games. It's the nature of the games and that isn't going to change much.

 

And the average MLB playoff game took 3 hours and 30 minutes in 2013. That's almost a full hour longer.

Edited April 24, 2015 by Poozy

[Inside Pitch]

NBA games usually don't run for three and a half hours.

Anything more than the final two minutes of an NBA game is time wasted.

[ScottT]

It's not the start times or the length of games. It's the nature of the games and that isn't going to change much.

[Blarg]

And the average MLB playoff game took 3 hours and 30 minutes in 2013. That's almost a full hour longer.

In 2014 the average game was 3:09.

[halobob]

Aren't baseball tix the least expensive of all major sports?

Yes but they used to be the least expensive by far.  They have now crept much much closer to the prices of all other sporting events.  Furthermore, there is much more supply for tickets for MLB than any other sport.  Double the amount of games and NBA/NHL and stadiums 2-3x the size of NBA/NHL stadiums.  MLB teams have done a really good job of figuring out the market value of the good games (opening day, yankees, red sox, etc) and they have marked up the tickets to reflect the market value.  However, they have yet to realize the market value of a monday game vs. the twins with no give away is just a few bucks.  

 

Furthermore, I remember when Angels single game tickets going onsale was an event.  Hundreds of people would like up outside of Angels stadium at the butt crack of dawn just to buy tickets when they went onsale.  Now it doesn't matter when the tickets go onsale because tickets are always available because the price is too high.  The Angels are really playing with fire here, if they stay below .500 and are out of the playoff race come August they are going to eat a bunch of tickets because they have trained people to wait to buy tickets and have sold very little for games past June at this point.