M.L.B. Report Highlights Sobering Number of Black Players; New York Times, 4/9/14

Tyler Kepner, New York Times; M.L.B. Report Highlights Sobering Number of Black Players:

"Dave Dombrowski is the head of baseball’s on-field diversity task force, but he is also the president of the Detroit Tigers. In the last year, as he studied ways to give better opportunities to African-Americans, Dombrowski realized the challenge demanded more than a committee of experts with day jobs.

“There’s so much involved in this, you need someone to focus on it daily,” Dombrowski said...

For Major League Baseball, that someone is Jerry Manuel, a former manager of the Mets and the Chicago White Sox...

Through the work of the committee, Dombrowski and Manuel said, baseball has identified many barriers, philosophical and practical, to increasing participation. But Sabathia brought up a societal issue that may be beyond baseball’s reach.

“Baseball’s a sport where you learn how to play catch with your dad,” Sabathia said. “There’s a lot of single-parent homes in the inner city, so it’s hard to get kids to play. Hopefully, Jerry can do some good things.”"