Lack of Diversity in Baseball

While reading Diamond Leung's fantastic blog, Diamond Notes, I came across a very interesting snippet from San Francisco Giant prospect, Garrett Broshuis -- a player I can admit I have not heard of -- but who's perspective I now value. In his prospect blog for Baseball America, he makes note of the stunning lack of diversity at the Winter Meetings in Indy.

It's an issue I think about constantly, and it's cool to see people within the industry taking note as well. As Broshuis says, the diversity of players during his minor league experience has been particularly rewarding.

His premise is that he would expect a majority of people in baseball to be male, given that the sport is played by men, but he wonders why women, in particular, don't occupy more positions given the amount of men who work in baseball that don't have playing experience.

He goes on to notice that not only are women few and far between, but there are not many African-American, Hispanic or Asian people either. Sure, his example is anecdotal in nature, but it's impressive to me that a player, someone who is paid to play, not necessarily philosophize about baseball, has noticed and given some good thought to the situation.

He wonders if people from South or Central America are back in their native countries during the offseason, possibly working in Winter Leagues or scouting, but his message is clear: while the minor leagues are stocked with players from diverse backgrounds, it is noticeably not that way among front-office types.

From my time working at and learning about Major League Baseball, I have learned that domestic diversity is at a troubling low right now. With the number of African-American players at approximately eight percent in MLB, the league has taken steps, most notably with the RBI program, to change he trend, but there is still tremendous work to be done.

To Broshuis' observation of homogenity among management in baseball, I'm not sure there is one explanation, except that many in baseball still do things "the old way," and that way has not always been one concerned with progress. On the other hand, it is the sport that gave us Jackie Robinson and the breaking of the color barrier in major sports, and I do believe that baseball is considered to be proactive in attempts to diversify compared to other leagues and employers in general.

It's not always the most important to find all the answers, and in these cases it's just refreshing to see someone like Garrett take note and share it with those who want to read it. I wouldn't have bothered to suggest if I were him that, "Perhaps those from diverse groups either are less qualified or don't want to work in baseball," but I would commend him for noticing and taking a moment to wonder, why?