MLB Task Force

Hi folks!! Today I’m going to talk about MLB and their efforts to bring more diversity to the game. Earlier this week, Major League Baseball announced that they are going to create a task force to work on improving diversity on the field. Major League Baseball has made progress when it comes to bringing the game into urban areas. Currently Major League Baseball runs 7 Urban Youth Academies and has RBI program but they want to do more to make the game popular in urban areas. This announcement comes on the heels of the anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color-barrier and the release of the movie depicting the life of Jackie Robinson. The latest player diversity reports says that there are 8.5% players on this year’s opening day roster that are African American. This committee is made up of 18 people who are owners, players’ union representatives, Major League Baseball scouts, minor league managers and college baseball coaches. Tampa Bay Rays owner Stuart Sternberg and Detroit Tigers president Dave Dombrowski will run the committee. The goal of this task force is to increase the number of minorities’ especially African American players in Major League Baseball. The fact that Major League Baseball is taking the step to try and get African Americans to play the game of baseball is a good thing because the numbers have gone down in the past couple decades. It is a rarity that you see an African American in the game of baseball at all levels so now it is Major League Baseball’s job to try and make the game popular amongst African Americans.