O’s Jones tells sad truths about baseball
Good for Adam Jones, who spoke out on Colin Kaepernick, the dwindling numbers of African Americans in baseball and why players in his sport haven’t publicly protested racial inequalities during national anthems.
But Jones, the Orioles’ center fielder, is wrong about one thing:
“In football, you can’t kick them out. You need those players. In baseball, they don’t need us,” Jones told USA Today.
To the contrary, baseball needs more Adam Joneses. More fabulous ballplayers, more fabulous teammates, more fabulous spokespersons for the sport, for the society in which they live and for any injustice they might witness or experience.
Jones’ comment was part of an in-depth discussion on race relations, including what’s getting the most play: his view that African Americans already have two strikes against them, “so you might as well not kick yourself out of the game” because “baseball is a white man’s sport.”
That the percentage of African Americans in the majors has dropped significantly in recent decades is well-documented, as is the predominantly white presence among owners, high-ranking executives, managers and media, and Jones vividly touched on racial inequality and police brutality and also provided a powerful reminder that baseball, decades after Jackie Robinson said just that, can do far more.
Yes, it’s a highly diverse sport with athletes assembled from around the globe, but obviously the game, which has done a nice job sending scouts outside the borders, could do a better job recruiting from the inner cities — for example, targeting high school kids who can’t afford college. Is it any wonder that’s an issue when there are 30 teams yet one black general manager, Arizona’s Dave Stewart, and none who is Latino?
In the wake of Kaepernick, a former pitcher who was drafted by the Cubs, sitting and then taking a knee in protest, Jones has brought baseball into the conversation. He should be applauded — as he was last year when he was crucially vocal over the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore — and we should be grateful.
Jones said things many fans and people in the game might not want to hear, and it’s not about disrespecting the flag or military, but about awareness and a call for action.