The names evoke recent and distant memories. From David Price to Russell Martin, from Tony Gwynn Jr. to Jerry Hairston Jr. and Dee Strange-Gordon, former Dodgers dot the rosters.
And the 14 Hall of Famers who serve as coaches include a who's who of legends who tormented the Dodgers as hotheaded opponents: Ozzie Smith, Ken Griffey Jr., Fergie Jenkins, Dave Winfield, Fred McGriff… the list goes on.
They will gather in Cooperstown, New York, for the East-West Classic: A Tribute to the Negro Leagues All-Star Game on Saturday at historic Doubleday Field. Team captains CC Sabathia and Chris Young made a selection of recently retired black players to fill out the rosters for the game, which features a weekend of Memorial Day festivities at the National Football Hall of Fame and Museum. Baseball around the opening of an exhibition titled “The Souls of the Game: Voices of Black Baseball.”
“I'm looking forward to seeing these guys' faces when we go into the Hall of Fame,” Sabathia said. “We are all very close and it will be fun to get everyone together.”
The exhibit will cover the era of the Negro Leagues, the complexities of integration, Jackie Robinson, the struggles black players experienced, and calls for change in the current game. Stories of black baseball are also being added to other exhibits throughout the museum.
Only 6% of players on this year's Opening Day MLB rosters are black, a number that has been slowly eroding for decades. A study by the Central Florida Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports found that Black players represented 6.2% of MLB players in 2023 and 7.2% in 2022. When the study began in 1991, 18% of MLB players were black.
Baseball has launched programs to boost participation in recent years, and one result has been an increase in the number of Black players selected in the top 100 — an average of 12 per year since 2021. Ten of the first 50 draft picks of 2023 were black. and 30% of first-round picks in 2022 were Black, a significant increase from the previous decade, when 17.4% of first-round picks were Black.
Four of the first five picks in the 2022 draft were Black and all four were alumni of at least one of the following MLB diversity initiatives:
— The DREAM Series operated by MLB and USA Baseball has since 2017 brought together predominantly Black high school pitchers and catchers across the country during Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend. The program includes seminars, mentoring, scout evaluations and coverage on video in addition to in-field instruction. Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher and Sherman Oaks Notre Dame High product Hunter Greene participated in the DREAM Series.
— The MLB ID Tour travels the country searching for baseball talent among diverse and underexposed groups of athletes, and this year has held events at the Compton Youth Academy, as well as in Atlanta, Dallas and Chicago.
— The Breakthrough Series provides a platform for players who have entered MLB's diversity pipeline to present themselves to college scouts and coaches. The Series, which began in 2008, has produced 22 first-round picks and 36 players have advanced to the major leagues.
— The Hank Aaron Invitational will be held in July at the Jackie Robinson Training Complex in Vero Beach, Florida, where approximately 250 teenage players from across the United States will be coached by former MLB players and coaches that in the past have included Griffey, Winfield, Eric Davis, Marquis Grissom, Reggie Smith and Delino DeShields.
Only 6% of Division I baseball players are black, a number that has increased slightly but remains alarmingly low. Developing future major league players is a clear goal of MLB's diversity initiatives, but getting Black players into college is also important.
“We see more kids playing in the ranks of Division I college baseball, and we see more kids getting drafted into the minor leagues,” said Del Matthews, MLB vice president of baseball development. “And then we're just flooding that through [our] various programs.
Memorial Day weekend festivities honoring the history of black baseball will begin with the unveiling of a bronze statue of Aaron on the first floor of the Hall of Fame Museum. Then, the East-West Classic (the name is a nod to the Negro League All-Star Game held annually from 1933 to 1962) will bring together living, breathing black players.
“It's going to be one of those weekends that will be with us for a long time,” said Young, the East team captain who played for the Angels in 2018, the last of his 13-year career. “If you have a son or daughter who plays baseball, take them to the Hall. If you're a baseball player, check it out. “It is a change of life.”
East-West Classic Lists
This: Captain Chris Young, Josh Barfield, Doug Glanville, Tony Gwynn Jr., Jerry Hairston Jr., Scott Hairston, LaTroy Hawkins, Ryan Howard, Edwin Jackson, Jeremy Jeffress, Adam Jones, Russell Martin, Melvin Mora, David Price and Mo'Ne Davis.
West: Captain CC Sabathia, José Contreras, Ian Desmond, Prince Fielder, Dexter Fowler, Curtis Granderson, Darrell Miller, Tyson Ross, Tony Sipp, Dee Strange-Gordon, BJ Upton and Justin Upton.
Hall of Fame Coaches: Harold Baines, Rollie Fingers, Ken Griffey Jr., Fergie Jenkins, Jim Kaat, Fred McGriff, Eddie Murray, Jim Rice, Lee Smith, Ozzie Smith, Joe Torre, Dave Winfield, Pat Gillick and Ryne Sandberg.
The Associated Press contributed to this. report.
