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Football and Baseball

 
 
gollum
 
Reply Sun 24 Sep, 2017 04:53 pm
Why is the percentage African American baseball and football players so high?
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Type: Question • Score: 0 • Views: 557 • Replies: 5
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Setanta
 
  2  
Reply Sun 24 Sep, 2017 08:51 pm
Sports and the entertainment industry are often the most accessible routes to prosperity for poor people, regardless of "race" or ethnic origin. Poor people do not have the educational opportunities of more affluent families, and they don't look like members of the dominant culture (whites of European descent, often Protestants). The sports and entertainment industries do not require higher education, and they often don't care about the appearance of those who make their careers there.

By the way, blacks, people of Hispanic descent and poor whites are "over-represented" in the military, as well. The military will train you for the job they assign, and although higher education can be a plus, it's not a requirement. The military doesn't care what you look like, either.

Your question is, tangentially, an example of the fallacy of the enumeration of favorable circumstances, a statistical fallacy. It is the fallacy of looking only at the data which confirm one's thesis, while ignoring other data. In the case of your question, you have focused on sports, and on two sports in particular. Furthermore, you ignore that other ethnic groups are also represented in sports, entertainment and the military in numbers greater than the proportion of their groups in the general population. It's not a matter of a great many Americans of African descent in those two sports, it's a matter of sports, entertainment and the military being the most accessible career paths of poor people, regardless of their superficial description.
gollum
 
  2  
Reply Mon 25 Sep, 2017 04:58 am
@Setanta,
Setanta-

Thank you.

I think your assertions about myself are not supported by the evidence. I read that the percentage of African American football and baseball players is far higher than in the general population and I wondered why.

I thank you for providing me with the answer.

However, I don't have a "thesis." I'm not ignoring anything. I only asked a question.
Region Philbis
 
  2  
Reply Mon 25 Sep, 2017 05:27 am
@gollum,

don't believe everything you read.

major league baseball has seen a significant drop in percentage of African American players,
and is trying to figure out ways to bring the numbers up...
gollum
 
  2  
Reply Mon 25 Sep, 2017 11:55 am
@Region Philbis,
Region Philbis-

Thank you.

It sounds strange. Why should it be major league baseball's purpose to increase the percentage of African American players?
Region Philbis
 
  2  
Reply Mon 25 Sep, 2017 12:12 pm
@gollum,
Quote:
There is debate about when the peak presence of African Americans in Major League Baseball occurred.
Some reports claim African Americans made up 27 percent of MLB rosters in 1975, while a 2016 Society
for American Baseball Research study puts the high mark at 18.7 percent in 1981.

One fact that baseball historians do not debate is the dramatic decline in the number of African Americans
in MLB the past three decades. From 1947, the year Jackie Robinson broke MLB's color barrier, to the 1980s,
the numbers mostly increased. Since then, it has gone the other way with only 6.7 percent of MLB players
being African American in 2016. That's the same percentage as in 1956, the year of the Montgomery bus
boycott.

There are reasons for the dip, such as the high price of travel ball, limited resources in inner cities and a lack
of instructors and mentors.

http://www.thepostgame.com/african-american-mlb-legends-modern-baseball

see also
https://sabr.org/bioproj/topic/baseball-demographics-1947-2012
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