“Need more black people”: Mookie Betts having a Racial bigotry stance during All-Star batting practice
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Mookie Betts
Mookie Betts was voted upon by the fans to start in the MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday night, following his overwhelming season before going into the All-Star break, he is hitting .265 with 20 home runs, 63 runs scored, 47 runs batted in and six stolen bases.
The Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was set to wear an All-Star jersey at his home ballpark. He came in for batting practice with a message for the Major League fans filling up the seats. The All-Star outfielder wore a shirt that said “We need more Black people at the stadium” when warming up for the Midsummer Classic at Dodger Stadium.
Mookie Betts said SportsNet LA reporter Kirsten Watson had shown him the shirt online and he bought one. “I agreed with it so I decided to wear it,” Betts said. “I figure this is the right stage to get the message out.”
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Mookie Betts indicates racial discrimination is a given fact in Major League Baseball
A recent study found that 38% of Major League players are of color. From the last 1960’s through the late 1990’s, African-Americans made up between 15 and 20 percent of all major leaguers. That meant there were also more Black MLB fans in attendance.
“You just don’t see a whole lot of blacks playing the game of baseball – which is fine,” Mookie Betts explained. “I mean, they don’t see themselves. I’m just trying to be that person they see and can become.”
But African-American participation in baseball has been in decline for years with the number of black players in MLB also declining. In 2016, that number was all the way down to 6.7%, according to SABR.
“We’re heading in the right direction,” Mookie Betts added. “We’re getting some culture in the game. The whole world is kind of going in that direction. So, baseball needs to as well.”
Mookie Betts was pleased to see the progress in the fact that four of the first five picks in this week’s MLB draft were African-Americans. After sporting the shirt he did at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday, Betts and the rest of the baseball world can indeed hope to see him play in front of a more diverse MLB audience in the future.
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Yagya Bhargava
(611 Articles Published)