The World Series between the Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies is the first since 1950 to have no African-American playersthree years later Jackie Robinson made history by breaking MLB’s color barriers.
Dusty Baker, one of two black managers in MLBcommented: “Well, I don’t think that’s something that baseball should really be proud of. It looks bad. It lets people know that it didn’t take a year or even a decade to get to this point.”
This is a World Series rarity
Prior to the start of the World Series in Houston, both teams unveiled their 26-man rostersand none of them included US-born black players. The Astros have outfielder Michael Brantleyan African-American, who could have been on the roster, but an injury early in the season kept him out.
On the Phillies’ side, they didn’t have a US-born black player on their starting roster for the first time since 1959. They had a black player, Roman Quinn, as a backupbut let him go after playing 23 games.
Baker sees a good future for black players
Despite this, Baker sees a better future for black American players. “But there is help on the way. You can tell by the number of African American No. 1 draft pick. The academies are producing players. So hopefully in the near future, we won’t have to talk about this anymore or even be in this situation,” he concluded.
In the 2022 MLB Draftfour of the top five selections were Black playersall of them alumni of the DREAM Seriesa diversity-focused development program funded by MLB & USA Baseball.
In total, nine Black players were selected in the draft, the most by total percentage since 1992.
.