San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Dwindling numbers
Giants’ Wade pushes for more Africannd American representation in MLB
First baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. sees the declining numbers of African Americans in Major League Baseball and lack of representation at all levels of the game. He wants a change in direction.
That goes for the San Francisco Giants, including in his own clubhouse.
“I just feel like sometimes it is uncomfortable when you don’t have many people who look like you in the locker room to be around,” Wade said. “At the end of the day, I’m not complaining. I love my teammates. I think we have a great locker room. But I think more could be done, and it would be nice to see more faces around here that look like myself.”
This is Wade’s fourth year in the organization. He’s often the lone African American player in the clubhouse. It’s not solely a Giants issue; it is MLB-wide, and should be at the forefront of conversations for the league as it prepares for the Giants’ June 20 game against the Cardinals at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Ala., in what it bills as a tribute to the Negro Leagues.
Many Negro League greats played at Rickwood, including a young Willie Mays. Two stops that Wade has eagerly awaited since MLB schedules were released are Baltimore (his hometown) and June 20 in Birmingham.
“I’m very excited to have an opportunity to be a part of this game and feel grateful MLB will have this event,” Wade said. “Anytime you can bring awareness to the Negro Leagues and celebrate the Negro Leagues and the accomplishment of those players, it’s for the better. A lot of times, I feel they’re left out or forgotten. For us to bring light to the Negro Leagues, it’s going to be very special.”
While overall diversity among MLB players is evident, especially with Latinos, just 6% of Opening Day rosters were African Americans, 57 men in all. That’s down from 6.2% on Opening rosters in 2023 and 7.2% in 2022, based on figures provided by the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. That’s a dramatic drop from 19% in 1995.
Dave Roberts and Ron Washington are MLB’s only African American managers.
The lack of people of color at the management and ownership levels is obvious for anyone attending MLB’s general manager meetings and owners’ meetings.
“It is definitely sad when you see the lack of African Americans in Major League Baseball,” Wade said. “It’s a scary fact, a scary statistic to see those numbers go down and down. It’s a great sport. I do think there are a lot of African Americans who would do well in this sport and be successful. They have not bought in at a young age, which you have to do nowadays. But a lot of times it’s just not affordable.”
MLB has several programs and initiatives designed to bring in and develop more African American players. There are signs that more young players are on the way — 12 of the first 100 players selected in the 2021 draft were African American, 13 of the first 100 in 2022 and 10 of the first 50 in 2023. At MLB’s Spring Breakout showcase in March, featuring the best prospects from all 30 farm systems, 9.5% of those rosters were African American. Of the 74 African Americans on those Spring Breakout rosters, 30 came from MLB Develops, which is league-run and oversees all initiatives focused on young Black players.
Part of MLB’s goal for the Rickwood game is to present it in a way to engage and support the African American community both locally and nationally. MLB is giving away 26% of the tickets to community and youth-based organizations in Birmingham. For tickets that were purchased, priority was given to fans with Alabama zip codes. MLB is inviting former Negro Leaguers and prominent former MLB players to the game, and old Giants Dusty Baker, Barry Bonds, Jeffrey Leonard and Randy Winn will be on hand.
Wade appreciates the event but wonders why he hasn’t been asked to help promote it. The team will spend little time in Birmingham, playing a day game in Chicago on June 19, flying to Birmingham that night, heading to Rickwood midday on June 20 for a game that starts at 6 p.m., then flying to St. Louis.
An off day on June 19 might have made for a full day in Birmingham for both teams to visit the community and hype the game; MLB instead scheduled June 21 as an off day in case the June 20 game is rained out.
Wade is one of the most highly respected Giants and was the 2021 winner of the Willie Mac Award as the team’s most inspirational player. He cherishes that as an honor he’ll “never forget,” especially because his teammates voted on the award and the Giants flew in his parents without him knowing.
On the other hand, Wade remains stung by the Giants severing ties with PA announcer Renel Brooks-Moon and still hopes she will attend the Rickwood game, preferably in an official capacity. He said BrooksMoon might have been “the most popular person in this organization” and added, “If they can treat Renel like this, I can’t sit here too comfortably. They could do the same thing to me in a heartbeat. Renel has way more pedigree with a way bigger platform than any of us in here.”
Like most MLB teams, the Giants’ African American representation could be far better. That goes for ownership (there’s none), management (very little at the high levels) and coaching staff. Until Garvin Alston was hired for 2024, the Giants hadn’t had an African American coach since Alonzo Powell in 2018-19.
President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi didn’t interview an African American when he hired Bob Melvin to replace Gabe Kapler as manager but did check in on the availability of Will Venable, whom Zaidi interviewed four years earlier (before choosing Kapler). Venable decided to remain on Texas’ coaching staff as the heir apparent to Bruce Bochy. Zaidi did interview two people of color, Carlos Mendoza and Kai Correa, as well as Alyssa Nakken.
“I think it needs to be a collective effort, but we definitely need the help of owners,” Wade said. “They have control over how rosters are constructed.
For me, specifically, it was about watching Ken Griffey Jr. and, in Baltimore, Adam Jones. You had somebody to look up to.”
Wade got hooked on baseball at an early age growing up in Baltimore, even though it wasn’t necessarily a popular sport in his area. He was inspired by his father, LaMonte Sr., who took him to Orioles games, and his mother, Emily, who played competitive softball. His brother, Jamal, pitched in the Mariners’ system.
“For me, personally, to play baseball, I always had to leave my area because nobody really played baseball,” Wade said. “We would play basketball in the neighborhood. We didn’t really get together to play baseball. A lot of my childhood friends and even through high school were basketball players, track stars, stuff like that. I mean, baseball is an expensive sport.
“I’m grateful to my mom and dad that they were able to afford for me to go out to play these showcases and play on these other travel ball teams outside my community because baseball isn’t as popular in the inner city. With inner-city kids or with African American kids as well. That’s just a thing.
“We need to be able to make the game more affordable for kids. I think results could change for the better. It’s an expensive sport where in basketball, you just need a pair of shoes and a ball. Make it more available in the African American community. That starts with more representation in the major leagues.”
According to MLB, more than a quarter of African American players on Opening Day rosters — along with 39 of the 74 African Americans on Spring Breakout rosters — are alumni of the multiple programs within MLB Develops.
Tony Reagins, MLB’s chief baseball development officer, is also involved in two other programs designed to showcase elite young Black players. One is the ID Tour, which identifies top players who aren’t on MLB’s radar through other programs and features stops in 18 cities — including Sunnyvale this year and Oakland, Pittsburg and Sacramento in previous years. The other is The Program, a monthlong initiative similar to spring training that gives 32 premier high school players an opportunity to train together and compete in travel-ball competition.
“Our goal is to create opportunities for these players to be seen at some of the high-level showcases and tournaments and put them on equal footing with some of the other top players,” said Reagins, a former Angels GM. “These players are competing well and getting noticed and recognized, and it’s evident in the last three or four drafts. Hopefully that leads to an increase at the major-level level. It’s not something that’ll happen overnight, but something we’ll continue to work on and emphasize as a league.”
The limited representation in the game can be challenging for African American players. When Wade was a prospect in the Twins’ system and taking batting practice, a coach inquired about the loud rap music being played by a strength coach, repeatedly saying the N-word when asking why it was OK it was in the lyrics but not appropriate for him to say it.
“I’ll never forget that day,” Wade said. “The guy came over and said, ‘Why can she say Nword this and N-word that? Then when I say it, it’s racist? Answer my question.’ It just caught me off guard. I didn’t know what to say. I started stuttering. I walked away because I didn’t want to say anything or react. One of the strength coaches walked me into the weight room. I was really angry and knew it wasn’t right.”
Wade called Twins big leaguer Byron Buxton, who quickly came to the site. The coach was put on temporary leave and eventually fired. Wade heard several other African American players share similar stories about the coach.
“It was eye-opening,” Wade said. “This is not only happening to me but to other players. Imagine if we didn’t say anything. He’d still be there saying the same things.”
While looking ahead to the Rickwood game, Wade appreciates the presence of Bonds and Baker as he appreciated the presence of Buxton, LaTroy Hawkins and Torii Hunter in Minnesota.
“I definitely think this will be the most significant game and most special place I’ve played,” Wade said. “Not to take away from all the special ballparks in the major leagues at all, but just to be able to be on the same field with the history and legends who have stepped foot on this field, I think it’ll be even more special, especially being a part of the Giants for a few years now and having the honor and privilege to meet Willie Mays a few times and now being able to step on the same field as Willie and go out there and play with my teammates.”