African-Americans in NCAA baseball few and far between

Photo: Southern University head baseball coach Roger Candor.

It isn't a myth or an overstatement to say that the hardest thing to see in college baseball is an African-American ballplayer. The decline almost makes a triple play look common.

In 2007, less than seven percent of all NCAA Division I baseball players were African-American, and the numbers are expected to decline for 2008. The comparisons to basketball, where 57 percent of D-I players were African-American, and football (43 percent) are mind-boggling.

There are a grand total of seven African-American players at the five pre-eminent college baseball teams in Southern California - two at Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State, and one each at USC, UCLA and Pepperdine. Considering UCLA gave us Jackie Robinson, USC is located in the inner-city and Long Beach has a long history of producing outstanding African-American athletes, it's a regrettable local statistic.

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