The Show Notes #28: Is Black Baseball Culture Losing The Plot?
Active Black MiLB and MLB players need to decide if they are going to fully commit to following the tradition of collective uplift or if they’re going to abandon it.
Introduction – Mookie Betts Makes a Misstep
While the amount of active Black players in MiLB/MLB is growing, there are signs of a disconnect with the overall Black community. Mookie Betts’s recent public appearance alongside homophobic/racist/anti-Semitic, etc. internet personalities Mikyle “N3ON” Rafiq and Adin Ross did not really surprise me, but it did disappoint me. Adin Ross, Andrew Tate, and other similar internet personalities seem to be popular amongst Black baseball players, as they follow, repost, and/or like far-right wing content on social media fairly often. The collective interest of Black baseball players in far-right media could explain the overall lack of interest in Black Baseball History beyond a performative aspect that would buy them acceptance and attention from the African-American community.
This is not the first time Betts has made a big media blunder, as he called for teams to sign free agent starting pitcher Trevor Bauer at the conclusion of a 194-game suspension for violating the MLB-MLBPA Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy.[1][2] Even when looking past the three legitimate sexual assault accusations that led to an independent arbitrator agreeing that Bauer should have been suspended for more than a season’s worth of games, he has a long history of being a negative presence in two different organizations.[3][4][5][6] Betts just didn’t advocate for Bauer after a random game in August against Colorado or Atlanta, he did it while on duty as a Special Correspondent during Game 3 of the 2023 World Series. While there were some negative reactions after the fact, the lesson has not been learned if the 8x MLB All-Star is willing to use his visibility to elevate Ross and Rafiq despite their long history of unsavory and controversial behavior. He is not the only Black player to make a fool of himself publicly to a degree, as Tim Anderson got knocked out by José Ramírez while a scandal was unfolding in his personal life involving his wife and his pregnant mistress. Jackie Robinson himself made plenty of mistakes that had major reverberations, the main one being his endorsement of the Republican Party at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, a decision he later regretted.[8] Robinson also publicly feuded with Muhammad Ali over his refusal to report for the draft during the Vietnam War, going as far as disrespecting Ali by refusing to refer to him by his Muslim name, instead using his former name of Cassius Clay.[9]
What Betts did is relatively minor in the grand scheme of things, but contrasts heavily with his attempts to leverage his superstardom to be a figure of representation for Black Baseball Culture after being traded to the Dodgers from the Boston Red Sox after the 2019 MLB season. The 2018 AL MVP seems to be inflicted with the hypocrisy that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. described in his speeches “The Three Evils of Society”, and “The Other America.”[10][11] How can Betts make sense of cracking anti-Semitic jokes with people who spew bigoted epithets for profit/attention and wearing t-shirts that demand more Black people at the stadium?[12] Especially when Hank Greenberg was one of Jackie Robinson’s most outspoken White allies after breaking MLB’s color line in 1947.[13] The 4x World Series champion could’ve made an appearance on Kai Cenat’s or ISHOWSPEED’s platform if he wanted to see more Black people at the ballpark, but instead he catered to a completely different audience. This incident begs the question of whether modern Black Baseball Culture has lost the plot, especially as the United States enters a Second Nadir of Race Relations under the direction of the Trump Administration.[14][15] Black people across the Western Hemisphere have used baseball as a tool to uplift ourselves as individuals, our families, and our communities since the late 1800s. Is the current generation of active Black players in MiLB and MLB willing and able to extend this legacy appropriately, or do they just want to look cool while performatively looking back on the past?
Everyone Wants to Be Cool, But No One Wants to Be Conscious
Every year, there are a handful of teams in MiLB and MLB that don special throwback jerseys to pay homage to the Negro Leagues and it is easy to see the enthusiasm on the faces of the African-American, Afro-Latino, and Afro-Caribbean players who relish the opportunity to wear these jerseys whenever promotional photos get published. When it is time to celebrate Jackie Robinson Day on April 15th, Black MLB players love to roll out the custom cleats and special reels on Instagram while shying away from building a rapport with the Black media like Robinson did unless you’re going to ask nothing but softball questions. Collective uplift and passing down history through conversation are pillars of Black Baseball Culture, but it seems like those pillars are crumbling. During my interactions with Black players in MiLB & MLB who are in my age range, I have not come across that many individuals who are comfortable talking about Black Baseball History on record.
The Negro Leagues would not have existed without annual fundraisers, cash injections from some of the world’s wealthiest Black people of the period, or the support of the working-class Black population.[16][17] The first two decades of MLB’s Integration Era were heavily influenced by the Civil Rights Movement. While many believe the Civil Rights Movement started anywhere from directly after World War II up to the early-to-mid 1950s, in the late 1930s as organizations such as The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters & Maids (BCSPM) were coordinating organized efforts to dismantle de jure, de facto, and economic racism across the United States. Former St. Louis Cardinals center fielder Curt Flood was heavily inspired by the Civil Rights Movement’s fight for fair wages when he decided to attack the validity of the reserve clause, sacrificing his All-Star career and potential coaching prospects in the process.[18] There are plenty of communities, upper-class restaurants, and clothing stores active and retired Black players in MLB spend their well-earned money at now that they would’ve been barred from in the past unless they were going shopping in the Northern United States or a foreign country such as Mexico or Cuba. The documentary “A Long Way From Home” does a great job of putting a microscope on the different aspects and the sheer intensity of the racism Black players faced during the first two decades of The Integration Era.
This history seems to be unimportant to Black baseball players in my generation, as if history can’t repeat itself. A lot of individuals also seem to be disconnected to what’s happening in the United States and around the world as the collective progress that was made across the world during the 20th century could be undone by the ultra-wealthy who control the powers that be. There should be more emphasis for active Black players in MLB and MiLB to learn the history of Black baseball players in the Negro Leagues and MLB, especially if they’re playing for a franchise with a lot of Black history such as the Dodgers, Guardians, Pirates, or Athletics. I’d also like to see more Black players who are willing to establish strong ties with the Black communities in the cities they play in, such as Triston McKenzie’s relationship with Cleveland’s Black community during his time in Northeast Ohio.[19]
Conclusion
Active Black MiLB and MLB players need to decide if they are going to fully commit to following the tradition of collective uplift or if they’re going to abandon it. The silence up to this point as Black people are being deported to countries that they’ve never been to and war criminals wreak havoc in the Caribbean/Latin America speaks volumes on whether individuals are going to be willing to step to the plate as the political and social norms of the United States continue to gradually deteriorate.[20][21][22][23] It is the ultimate irony that MLB hands out awards with the names of Henry Aaron, Roberto Clemente, and Jackie Robinson in the title while the culture of defiance and resistance that they developed in response to the racism inside and outside of baseball seems to have been completely erased.[24][25][26][27] While everybody cannot be Jackie Robinson, there’s far too many individuals taking the Willie Mays approach of trying to let their game do all the talking.
Sources
[1] https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-mlbpa-agree-on-domestic-violence-policy/c-144508842
[2] https://www.truebluela.com/2023/10/31/23939874/mookie-betts-trevor-bauer-dodgers
[3] https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/indians-acquire-potential-ace-trevor-bauer-in-three-team-deal/
[4] https://www.sbnation.com/2013/2/12/3981562/trevor-bauer-trade-diamondbacks-indians-attitude-reasons
[5] https://www.cleveland.com/tribe/2017/02/cleveland_indians_pitcher_trev_7.html
[6] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/1102031/2019/07/28/trevor-bauer-and-the-long-toss-heard-round-the-world/
[7] https://www.jackierobinsonmuseum.org/learn/stories/jackie-and-the-1964-republican-national-convention/
[8] https://www.jackierobinsonmuseum.org/learn/stories/jackie-and-the-1964-republican-national-convention/
[9] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/2036488/2020/09/10/the-comeback-no-1-politics-racism-death-threats-nothing-could-stop-ali/
[10] https://www.blackagendareport.com/speech-three-evils-society-martin-luther-king-jr-1967
[11] https://www.rev.com/transcripts/the-other-america-speech-transcript-martin-luther-king-jr
[12] https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/we-need-more-black-people-at-the-stadium-mookie-betts-displays-message-on-shirt-by-la-clothing-company/2947375/
[13] https://www.jta.org/2019/02/20/ny/heres-to-you-mr-robinson
[14] https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article-abstract/60/1/132/149009
[15] https://archive.org/details/negroinamericanl0000loga
[16] https://sabr.org/journal/article/big-problems-and-simple-answers-an-explanation-of-the-negro-leagues/
[17] https://www.post-gazette.com/life/lifestyle/2010/02/11/Let-s-Learn-About-Gus-Greenlee/stories/201002110381
[18] https://www.mlbplayers.com/mlk-curt-flood
[19] https://www.mlb.com/news/triston-mckenzie-youth-community-work-spreading-guardians
[20]https://www.nytimes.com/article/trump-drug-boat-strikes-timeline.html
[21] https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/22/alien-enemies-act-james-boasberg-ruling-00704244
[22] https://www.hrw.org/report/2025/11/12/you-have-arrived-in-hell/torture-and-other-abuses-against-venezuelans-in-el
[23] https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5373845-us-soldiers-son-born-on-army-base-in-germany-is-deported-to-jamaica/
[24] https://sabr.org/journal/article/roberto-clemente-and-martin-luther-king-jr-in-service-of-others/
[25] https://andscape.com/features/jackie-robinson-last-stand-to-see-blacks-break-into-the-mlb-managerial-ranks/
[26] https://www.mlb.com/news/hank-aaron-overcame-racism-hate-throughout-life
[27] https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/07/books/review/07will.html