Quote:
Originally Posted by DougWyatt
Unless, of course, they were talented black athletes. Or, for the most part, not from America.
What I mean by that is ... I would say that blacks in the MLB and MLB recruiting world wide, have added more than American kids playing other sports have taken away. (speaking in terms of league talent)
|
What percentage of Bonds' at-bats have come against black pitchers? Maybe one-half of one percent? I don't think the absence of black pitchers in Ruth's day made much difference
relative to their presence in Bonds' era. Latino pitchers, on the other hand...
I do think you're underestimating how much kids playing other sports is taking away from baseball. What percentage of elite 14 year-old athletes play baseball as their first sport today? 10%? It used to be more like 95%. That's a tremendous difference. You could have a population of 30 million in 1920 producing as much pitching talent as a population of 300 million today.