Dario Otero Jr., affectionately known as DJ, admires Jackie Robinson for making history as the first black American to play in Major League Baseball.
DJ, 13, said Robinson proved that black players can excel in professional baseball, too. But 75 years after the league was desegregated, DJ said he is the only black baseball player on his youth tour team.
And that reality hits harder during tryouts and games, said DJ’s father, Dario Otero Sr.
“He knows he’s the only one there,” Otero said. “He does whatever he does, no matter how you look at it, he sticks out like a sore thumb … he’s known for being the only player in our area that’s the black player.”
DJ, who lives in Rosemount, Minnesota, said he would love to see more young black men playing baseball in his age group. Being the only black player on his team makes him “concerned” about the future, DJ said.
And it’s not the only one.
The recent news that there are no American-born black players competing in the World Series for the first time since 1950 underscores what advocates of racial equity in sports say is MLB’s decades-long struggle with diversity.
This comes after a May report from the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport found that there is a smaller percentage of black players in MLB now than in three decades. Black players currently make up about 7% of Major League Baseball teams, compared to 18% black players the league had in 1991.
Before Game 1 at Minute Maid Park in Houston, the Astros and Philadelphia Phillies announced their 26-man World Series rosters last week, and neither team’s rosters include US-born black players. Astros outfielder Michael Brantley, a black player, likely would have been on the roster but suffered a season-ending shoulder injury earlier in the season. Meanwhile, the Phillies had no black players on their Opening Day roster this year for the first time since 1959. Roman Quinn, who is black, was a backup outfielder with the Phillies this season but was released after playing in 23 games.
‘Baseball has really tried hard’
“Baseball has actually gone to great lengths to increase the number of black players because, frankly, it’s an embarrassment to them,” Lapchick said.
Lapchick credited the league for making history this year. Four of the top five picks in the MLB draft this year were black, and all participated in the MLB Dream Series designed to increase black representation on the field.
Tony Reagins, MLB’s director of diversity, tells CNN that the key is to get players from the youth leagues to college, where scouts can see them and further develop their skills.
Reagins said the number of black people participating in college baseball is about 5%. He said that while he understands the importance of getting black players into professional baseball, he feels “getting black players into college is just as important.”
“This didn’t happen overnight and it won’t change overnight,” Reagins said.
While no players will be US-born African Americans, there will be black players in the Fall Classic, including Afro-Cuban slugger Yordan Alvarez of the Astros. Players from eight different countries are represented in this year’s World Series.
Still, observers say the lack of US-born players on this year’s roster indicates more needs to be done to grow the roster of African-American players. And despite MLB’s efforts, many fans and league watchers are still disappointed that black American players are underrepresented, said Phil Dixon, baseball historian and co-founder of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City.
“If I had to give Major League Baseball a grade, I’d give them an F,” Dixon said.
His museum continues to receive millions of dollars in donations from MLB, but Dixon nonetheless believes there is too much investment in the past and not enough in the future.
“Since we opened the museum, the number of black gamers has been going down,” Dixon said. “They’re putting their money into the story, big time, but their commitment to today’s youth is sorely lacking.”
It is an ‘expensive’ sport
Otero, DJ’s father, said young black men need to learn the history of baseball and receive more guidance on how to participate.
“I just want to cheer on…the minor leagues [and] major league baseball teams to delve into the history of their community and see how they attract young athletes,” Otero told CNN.
Otero said some Black families also struggle to afford the costs of playing baseball and there isn’t enough investment to fix up baseball fields in Black neighborhoods.
“It’s expensive,” Otero said. “$300 gloves, $300 bats that you have to change every year.”
Lapchick told CNN that baseball fields are not common in urban areas.
Otero, who previously coached baseball in urban areas, said fields in black and brown communities are not as well maintained as fields in white suburban areas.
“It’s not that much fun,” Otero said, adding that a rock could fly and hit a player in the face because of the poor state of the field.
Experts say more needs to be done to remove racial barriers to baseball.
“I think more could be invested in those programs, and I think municipalities across the country need to partner with Major League Baseball to make those programs as strong as possible and really support our youth,” said Jessie Hagopian, author. that she writes about black representation in sports.
Hagopian said if MLB builds more fields in black and brown communities, it would revive interest and recruiting within these communities.
Reagins said MLB shares Hagopian’s concerns. The league is working with local leaders to improve field conditions in several cities and is offering financial assistance to young players to help defray the cost of participating in youth leagues, Reagins said.
“We provide equipment, we provide scholarships, we provide subsidies in order to begin to balance the balance… get more children to have those opportunities that those who have resources already have,” he said.
‘All levels are to blame’
The lack of investment and the high costs to play are not the only problems.
According to Dixon, Ebony Magazine and other black media outlets used to promote and list all black professional baseball players in the 1960s and 1970s, but they don’t anymore.
“You have to blame at all levels,” Dixon said.
Lapchick said black kids are less likely to choose baseball when they don’t see themselves celebrated in the sport.
Barry Bonds was considered one of the most popular black baseball players in the early 2000s, but his reported steroid use and subsequent media criticism overshadowed his accomplishments. This resulted in black athletes moving away from baseball and closer to basketball and football, Lapchick said.
“So if you’re a young black man and you see the best black baseball player getting criticized all the time, you look at the NBA and you see great athletes getting featured in the news and in the community, the same thing in the NFL, probably not choose baseball,” Lapchick explained.
Despite the racial disparity in baseball, DJ said he hopes to one day make it to the MLB as a starting pitcher.
“I have a big arm,” DJ said. “An arm that could one day be part of the next generation of major league superstars.”
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