Man, I'm starting to feel so old. I was reading this blog called Stereohyped, where the reader was commenting on a story that came out this week stating that the percentage of black baseball players is tied for its all time low. He asked in his post who cares. I was going to respond on his blog, but decided I could probably do it better justice here.

Every time I read things like this, it makes me wonder just what's happened to the perspective and honor that those who came before us deserve. This year notwithstanding, the percentages of black people who have participated in the voting process had been dwindling dramatically, as more and more black people felt their vote doesn't count. To me, this does little justice to the memory of those people who gave their lives to gain the right to vote. Does the principle of civil rights mean nothing to today's generation?

So let's talk baseball for a quick minute. I love baseball; it was my first sport as a child, not counting bowling (my dad worked in a bowling alley). As I got older, I learned more about the history of baseball, especially the history of the Negro Leagues and Jackie Robinson's entry into baseball. When Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, he didn't do it only for baseball; he did it for all sports.

Going further, baseball used to be the game that brought gangs of children together. It didn't take much except a ball and a bat. If one didn't have a ball and a bat, one could always find a way to make a ball and find a stick of some kind to use as a bat. Baseball was a game where you could bring together upwards of 18 kids or so at a time to play, and all you needed was a big, open field. I never even saw a basketball until I was 11 years old; how odd a concept that must sound like to today's kids. But baseball,... now there was a game that everyone could get behind.

There was no trash talk except the chatter of "hey batter batter" or "he can't throw strikes", or the many derivations of it all. Baseball was a game of strategy and positioning, not a game where one person established their personal dominance over someone else. Baseball was, and is, the ultimate team game.

That it seems not to matter to younger black people anymore is quite depressing to me. So go the memories of all that others did so that everyone could have a chance to even play sports like basketball or football, or any other integrated sport in America. I guess, in the long run, none of it will ever matter again; and that's too bad.