Race decline draws MLB’S attention

Major League Baseball, alarmed by its historic low 7.7% of African Americans on opening-day rosters this season, will announce the creation of a task force today to help reverse the decline, three MLB executives told USA TODAY Sports.

The executives spoke on the condition of anonymity because Commissioner Bud Selig had yet to announce the move.

The 17-member committee will consist of owners, executives and coaches, including Hall of Famer Frank Robinson, Chicago White Sox vice president Kenny Williams, Tampa Bay Rays owner Stuart Sternberg and Southern University baseball coach Roger Cador.

The African-American percentage in baseball is the lowest since the Boston Red Sox became the final team to integrate its roster in 1959, according to a USA TODAY Sports study that includes major league players on opening-day disabled lists. It’s a drop from 8% last season, a dra- matic decline from 1995 when 19% of the rosters were African American and far from the peak of 27% in 1975.

“I never thought I’d see anything like this,” Hall of Fame second baseman Joe Morgan told USA TODAY Sports on Tuesday. “There’s not enough big stars now to dissuade them from basketball and football.”

Hollywood celebrated Tuesday the premiere of 42, the story of Jackie Robinson breaking baseball’s color barrier in 1947, but four teams began the season without an African American on their roster — the St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers.

One factor that could reverse the trend: Concern about head injuries in football. Tuesday, a class-action lawsuit was brought forward by about 4,200 former NFL players alleging negligence and fraud in handling concussion-linked injuries.

“You look at those kind of things, and that’s why I talk to guys trying to get them to play baseball,” said Cincinnati Reds outfielder Derrick Robinson, 25, who spurned a football scholarship from the University of Florida. “It’s so much better on the body and for longevity.”