Black Players In Baseball Make Up Less Than 10% Of The Sport Today. Why?

'Black participation in Major League Baseball has declined for years — and The Washington Post spent this baseball season trying to understand why. In the 1970s, Black baseball players made up about 20% of MLB. Today, that number has dropped to nearly 8%. The Post launched a project called “The Nine” centered around the profiles of nine legendary baseball players. Chelsea Janes, national baseball reporter and a writer on the project, says a reason for the decline in participation is the timeline of becoming an MLB player. “A lot of Black kids looked up and saw stars in the NFL and NBA who come right out of high school or right out of college and are suddenly on national television,” Janes says. “And in baseball, that just doesn't happen.”