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All black LL team to LLWS ...

Zaac

Well-Known Member
I think baseball is like golf, gymnastics, and ice hockey for young Blacks. It's expensive. And when the income isn't there, they trend toward something that's not as costly.
 

InTheLight

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
I think baseball is like golf, gymnastics, and ice hockey for young Blacks. It's expensive. And when the income isn't there, they trend toward something that's not as costly.

Sure, cost is a factor. The two hottest sports trend for youth right now is (girls) fast pitch softball and lacrosse. Also tennis is on the upswing. These are not overly expensive sports. I wonder what the black participation rate is for these sports.

Baseball wasn't expensive when I was a kid. You needed a glove, cleats, and a couple of bats (they were wood bats back then.) Nowadays a good bat is $200+ and the league fees are $250+. Players usually need to buy a new bat every year as the old one's alloy is "dead" or else the bat regulations have changed. So yeah, it can get expensive.
 

matt wade

Well-Known Member
If you are a black kid in an "underprivileged" school in America you don't have to buy anything to play baseball (or any other sport). Simply show up, have some athletic talent, and you are on the team with all expenses paid.
 

Zaac

Well-Known Member
If you are a black kid in an "underprivileged" school in America you don't have to buy anything to play baseball (or any other sport). Simply show up, have some athletic talent, and you are on the team with all expenses paid.

Baseball is a little bit different. Basketball and football you can probably get a college scholarship by just starting to play in high school if you've got the talent.

With baseball, you have got to be a on a travel team and in a league that can be seen. I was looking at one of the local high school teams baseball roster last Spring. They are usually pretty good. All but two or three of the guys on varsity were part of travel teams during the off season. The ones who weren't played football in the fall so they didn't need to play on baseball travel teams.

It's hard, for the most part to play varsity baseball without being part of a Summer league or a team that travels.
 

InTheLight

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
With baseball, you have got to be a on a travel team and in a league that can be seen. I was looking at one of the local high school teams baseball roster last Spring. They are usually pretty good. All but two or three of the guys on varsity were part of travel teams during the off season. The ones who weren't played football in the fall so they didn't need to play on baseball travel teams.

It's hard, for the most part to play varsity baseball without being part of a Summer league or a team that travels.

I think you've got it backwards. The best players play on elite travel teams, period. They easily make the varsity team because they play so much more than most other players.

BTW, in your post you quoted Matt Wade who basically said black kids get their fees paid, get free equipment and placement on a team, not because they are elite athletes, but because they are black. That sentiment is extremely offensive, and patently wrong. I can't believe you let that slide by.
 

Zaac

Well-Known Member
I think you've got it backwards. The best players play on elite travel teams, period. They easily make the varsity team because they play so much more than most other players.

I think that's what I was trying to say if I didn't say it quite clear, lol. It's pretty difficult to make a high school team too if you're not playing for a travel team. Around here, those leagues feed into the high schools so the coaches know them well before they get there.

BTW, in your post you quoted Matt Wade who basically said black kids get their fees paid, get free equipment and placement on a team, not because they are elite athletes, but because they are black. That sentiment is extremely offensive, and patently wrong. I can't believe you let that slide by.

I just thought he was trying to say that if they were playing football, basketball,, baseball, that the school would pay for all of the equipment. I was hoping that he knows that's done for ALL players in school sports.

What he is ignoring again is that the black students aren't getting anything provided for baseball because they aren't playing.
 

matt wade

Well-Known Member
I just thought he was trying to say that if they were playing football, basketball,, baseball, that the school would pay for all of the equipment. I was hoping that he knows that's done for ALL players in school sports.

Around here black schools get free equipment. White schools you have to pay to be on the team. Black schools you get to be a cheerleader for no charge. White school? Being a cheerleader runs about 400 dollars (more if they go to competition).

Of course I expect you to say the black kids deserve it....reparations and all.
 

Zaac

Well-Known Member
Around here black schools get free equipment. White schools you have to pay to be on the team. Black schools you get to be a cheerleader for no charge. White school? Being a cheerleader runs about 400 dollars (more if they go to competition).

It's illegal to REQUIRE that any student pay to play sports in the public school system in most states including Florida. If they choose to not pay these "fees" they can't be kicked off a team.



Of course I expect you to say the black kids deserve it....reparations and all.

You expect whatever you want.
 

righteousdude2

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
There is a difference, and you know that!

Thank you for this. I've been trying to avoid calling this BB "racist" for a while because I am honestly starting to believe that it may just be ignorance talking. That being said, this place has a certain uncomfortable tone whenever race is discussed. Your mileage may vary of course. The OP in this topic is cringeworthy and the you brought around the whole point of the IL team being "newsworthy" quite nicely. MLB and its host cities are trying to combat the lack of interest in baseball with intiatives like the RBI program and the urban youth baseball academies. I think Joe Morgan just opened the one in Cincinnatti and was quite emotional about it as it was a similar program that got him into the sport as a child.

If your first reaction to this story is "what about the white kids," then you probably ought to revaluate your world view. By the way, there were "all white" and "all asian" teams in the LLWS. As I recall the South Korean team defeated the team from IL in the finals. Maybe "all white" baseball teams aren't newsworthy because often times that is the status quo.

I know there are other teams that maybe composed of, or dominiated by one race or another. Still, it is not that the team was all black, but that the league they came out of has all black teams. It is like all black colleges; the black entertainment awards; etc.

If the white race had an All White Entertainment Awards show, it would not be tolerated. And there used to be some All White colleges, but in the late 50s and 60s, those schools were intergrated.

I thought the days of SEGREGATION had ended, but if you are a black, there is only integration if some black group wants to make a public display and issue of it, and force said group to accept blacks into their ranks!

Is there anything wrong with an all negro league! At one time that was how the baseball leagues operated. After Jackie Robinson, that ended, thank God, and my point is, why has a group of folks decided to develop an All Negro Little League league? If they want to have an all black league, FINE, but what good does it do to advertise your team as one that came from an ALL BLACK LEAGUE? If they were to have won the LLWS, it would have been a huge deal that an all black team, from an all black league won the LLWS.

And I am only thinking that it is time America moves beyond segregation of anything! It sends a bad message. It really does.

As for Basketball, it has been dominated by blacks for decades now, and I do not see the whites, Asians or any other race protesting or making a big deal out of it. There are no federal laws requiring each NBA team to have a percentage of other races on their team. We all know that the composure of any sports team is made up by the best of the best, regardless of race. That is what America is all about!!!!

I felt that had the Chicago team won the LLWS, it would have been a step back to the sixties as news reports that an all black team from an all black league won the LLWs for America!

If America is an ethnic melting pot, than all races must be willing to shed the need for all one race, making up its ranks!

What is so hard for any of you to understand this! We worked with things like "diversity", "tolerance" and political correctness over the last three decades to be rid of all one race anything! Which is the basis of this OP. Why was it necessary to make such a big deal out of this all black team from an all black league? It would have been more American to have just referred to the team as the Chicago West all stars. Not the All black west team from Chicago! That is what made this outrageus, at least to me. It seems that there are still a pocket of black folks that use slective racism for their own doing or undoing, which is what playing the race card is all all about.

It is time for this to stop, and when it does, and the "it" being drawing attention to the cause of the black people when it serves them well, to end. We are all Americans. We are not red, white, black or brown. We are one nation, and that is how it has to be if we are going to avoid the kind of things I pointed out here.

This LL team was a very good team based on its talents and merits, not because it was All Black, but because it was all American!

And that my friends is the urpose of this OP!
 
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Salty

20,000 Posts Club
Administrator
It's illegal to REQUIRE that any student pay to play sports in the public school system in most states including Florida. If they choose to not pay these "fees" they can't be kicked off a team. ...

Do you have a link for that ?
 

Salty

20,000 Posts Club
Administrator
You Stated:
It's illegal to REQUIRE that any student pay to play sports in the public school system in most states including Florida. If they choose to not pay these "fees" they can't be kicked off a team. ...

According to your link, evidently it is illegal in Calif.

Still looking one for Fla, as well as other States or Commonwealths.

When you make a firm statement, you should be able to back it up.
 

righteousdude2

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Well .....

When you make a firm statement, you should be able to back it up.

..... don't hold your breathe waiting for that. I've challenged him to back up his accusations many times, and all I get is insults and another round of name calling! :wavey:
 

matt wade

Well-Known Member
You Stated:

According to your link, evidently it is illegal in Calif.

Still looking one for Fla, as well as other States or Commonwealths.

When you make a firm statement, you should be able to back it up.
He's not going to provide it because it simply isn't true.
 

righteousdude2

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Thanks Salty....

From the 5th Paragraph of an AOL story:
"The beloved Jackie Robinson West All Stars, Chicago's first all-black team to claim the national title,..."

We never would have seen a headline of that stature go unnoticed and called into question if it read: Boston's first all-white tean to claim national title?"

This is all I've been tryng to communicate all along, and getting kicked and punched for broaching the subject!
 
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