ARTICLE FROM thegrio.com (Full story click here)

I have noticed that a new movie about the legendary Jackie Robinson will be in the theaters on April 12th. If you know anything about the late Mr. Robinson he dealt with a lot of racism and being called the “n” word and more when he played major league baseball back in the day. The stress turned his hair grey and it killed him at a young age. He was only in his 40’s when he died of a heart attack.

For sure I am going to watch that movie on Robinson. So I can learn more about what he went though as a black man in a white man’s sport in the 40’s and 50’s. It was a white man’s sport (the major league) except for the Negro Leagues I should say.

Every year for the last few years MLB have made April 15th as “Jackie Robinson Day”. Players on every team will wear his number on their uniforms. In my opinion expect for a few teams, it is a flat out joke that MLB has this day. Jackie Robinson would not like what he sees if he was alive today. Teams like our Seattle Mariners and the champs S.F. Giants have little to zero African American players on their teams. This is very sad. The numbers of African American players in MLB has been on a steady decline since the 90’s.

I was happy today when I turned on a pre-season game today between the Phillies and Blue-Jays. The Phillies had five African Americans in the starting lineup. The Atlanta Braves will have a all African American outfield starting out the season. But teams like our Mariners and others will have teams with almost zero African Americans in sight. This is terrible and is not what Jackie Robinson stood for. Young kids in the inner city do not have role models to look up with the Mariners etc.

Mariners radio hosts will talk about April 15th as “Jackie Robinson Day” BUT when they call the game few if any African Americans will be on the Mariners team or even the visiting team. Plenty of players from South American etc but few African Americans. Again this is not what Robinson stood for readers.

Yes the Mariners tried to sign Justin Upton. But Upton said he did not want to play for the Mariners. And I don’t blame him. The Mariners are not a winning team. Fans have been staying away from Safeco Field in droves. They might show up this year to watch the huge scoreboard that is new this year. We will see. The Mariners had a great pre-season and hit a lot of homers but what will during the season? Who knows.

I do know that on April 12th a movie about Jackie Robinson will the screens all over the U.S. And I know that on April 15th it is “Jackie Robinson Day” in MLB. A FAKE day in my opinion readers. A “token” day by MLB. A “joke” by MLB. Major League Baseball SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES!! The marketing of the game to inner city kids or inner city adults is TERRIBLE. FLAT OUT TERRIBLE. This is a fact. The NBA knows how to market. The NFL knows how to market. Baseball is living in the 50’s. This is 2013.

Young African American kids are turning away from baseball at around 12 or 13 and turning to football and basketball. They see their favorite players on TV all the time. Sorry to say they do not see their favorite baseball players on TV. This is very very sad.

Readers how many African Americans besides Ryan Howard do you see doing commericials on TV? The NBA has plenty of ex and current players doing commercials like Charles Barkley, Keerem Abdul-Jabbar, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, Dwayne Wade, Dr J, Shaq,  Bill Russell, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Micheal Jordan and others. The NFL has the Manning Brothers, Robert Griffin III, Drew Brees and others. Where are the baseball players? NOWHERE IN SIGHT.

I will be doing more stories on the lack of African Americans in MLB. Hopefully writers of the Seattle Times and other publications will join me and others and write about the current state of African Americans playing in Major League Baseball the lackof marketing in the African American community and it’s media.  It is sad to see teams with no African Americans and sad to see stadiums at games that looks like a Elks Club Convention in Vermont. Mr Robinson would NOT be happy.   Comments? gcurvey@yahoo.com or www.facebook.com/gordon.curvey  or www.twitter.com/gcurvey Gordon Curvey