As the World Series plays out this weekend between the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros, the glaring lack of Black players on both teams, and MLB in general, is not lost on up-and-coming Black players. - NBCBLK
He cried because he heard “racist comments” from white opponents — players and especially parents, he said — as he competed on the field with an all-Black youth team in Atlanta.
As the World Series plays out this weekend between the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros, the glaring lack of Black players on both teams, and MLB in general, is not lost on Grissom. The Braves and Astros each have one Black player on their World Series roster: Terrance Gore of Atlanta and Michael Brantley of Houston. Most MLB teams had two or fewer Black players, and three had none at the start of the season. About 50 percent of the league, meanwhile, is made up of Latin players.
Still, the numbers are paltry, and the reasons are many, dating to Jackie Robinson integrating baseball in 1947, according to pop culture critic Gerald Early. In the years after Robinson broke the color barrier, players fled the Negro Leagues for the major leagues. And the Negro Leagues’ business structure “pretty much ended,” said Early, a professor of African American studies at the Washington University in St. Louis.
Three young Black baseball players — Grissom, high school star Colin Jones and junior college stalwart Mikal Ashley — chose baseball, and are on different paths and in different points in their journeys that they hope will land them in the major league. “We have to do like the Latin players do,” said Grissom Sr., who played for the Braves, Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers in a 13-year career. “Pro players going to their countries and teaching the game, investing in their youths.”“It’s different from what I was used to,” Grissom Jr. said. “It was great to play all my life with my guys, friends, who looked like me, had the same experiences as me. At Georgia Tech, though, it’s still great because we are a team of good guys.
He attends Georgia Premier Academy in Statesboro, Georgia, the only high school in the state that specializes in baseball. A B-plus student, he goes to class from 8 a.m. to noon and practices or plays baseball from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.
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