By Marissa Credle
Everyone in Major League Baseball dedicates April 15th as Jackie Robinson Day, a day where we celebrate the life of a man who broke the color barrier for baseball. While great strides have been made in increasing the amount of African-American baseball players, they only accounted for 7.7% of all major league players, according to USA Today. There are a multitude of reason behind why the percentage is still very low. One prominent one could be the racism that lives in the sport to this day.
Just three years ago, then Oriole Adam Jones was attacked by racist remarks while manning the outfield in Fenway Park. Two years ago, old tweets of Josh Hader using racist slurs were exposed. Just last year, Cubs reliever Carl Edwards Jr. received racist messages after a tough outing. These are three issues where many fans and teams did speak up, but many did not. Some even excused the behavior of Hader, saying he was a child, 17 years old, at the time.
As a black female, it’s hard not to take notice of both the lack of African-American players in the league, as well as the racism that occurs in the sport. While I have been fortunate enough to not endure any racism while attending a baseball game, many cannot say the same. Something I do realize, however, is how usually my family is one of the very few black people in the stands. While I sometimes question the lack of black support for baseball, it’s easy to see the answer when realizing the lack of African-American players and the added racism most if not all of them endure.
In lieu of recent events, many players have spoken out against the racism occurring in society, with Monté Harrison speaking out against the lack of action taken by Major League Baseball. The issue of racism is something people do not talk enough about, and that was also highlighted by an article by Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, an interview with many black retired baseball players. Ex-Met LaTroy Hawkins stated “We never wanted to be a distraction in the clubhouse by talking about social injustice.”
This exemplifies where we all as humans need to change. Social injustice should never be seen as a distraction. Social injustice is bigger than the game of baseball.
It has taken blatant murder of a black man for many people to recognize that racism is an issue not only in the United States, but worldwide. What many refuse to realize, however, is that racism has been an issue this entire time, especially in the sport we all love to watch, baseball. The next time we see something, whether it’s racist comments or excuses of the behavior, we need to say something. Choosing to ignore these issues will lead to bigger problems and the idea that racism is okay.
It is our job as not only fans of Major League Baseball, but humans, to debunk this ideology and take a stand against racism not just today, not just tomorrow, but every time we see it.
