Joe Morgan: Astros Roster Has No Black Players

[Beowulf]

HOUSTON - <?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = AT /><AT:CLASS></AT:CLASS>Joe Morgan worries about the face of baseball. Watching the World Series, the Hall of Famer is troubled by what he sees. His old team, the Houston Astros, is down 2-0 to the Chicago White Sox, but it's not their lineup that concerns Morgan. It's their makeup.

<AT:CLASS></AT:CLASS>The Astros are the first World Series team in more than a half-century with a roster that doesn't include a single black player.

<AT:CLASS></AT:CLASS>"Of course I noticed it. How could you not?" Morgan said while the Astros took batting practice before the opener in Chicago. "But they're not the only ones. There are two or three teams that didn't have any African-American players this year."

<AT:CLASS></AT:CLASS>Morgan said it's a predicament and a challenge for Major League Baseball. While more players from around the world are making it to the majors - Japan, Korea, for example - the number of blacks is declining.

http://kevxml2adsl.verizon.net/_1_2DVVTO1044Z6JTO__vzn.dsl/apnws/story.htm?kcfg=apart&feed=ap&sin=D8DFB1E05&qcat=sports&passqi=&top=1&ran=3316

Joe, I like you but let's not make baseball an issue of race.

[SmellyFed]

Ridiculous. Need we point out that Cecil Cooper is their bench coast?

They've had plenty of black players in the past and will have plenty more in the future. They currently have a lot of black players at the minor league level. It just so happens that the best, developed talent they have in the organization is either caucasion or hispanic.

[DesertFox]

Joe, stick to baseball. Sociology ain't yer bag.

Surely it hasn't escaped your notice that blacks are hugely overrepresented in the NBA, so why haven't you commented on that? Whites are overrepresented in the NHL, but you've said nothing about it. White Britons are overrepresented in curling, yet you remain silent.

How could you not notice?

Frenchmen are absent from the list of ranked heavyweight fighters. There are zero Arabs in major league baseball, no Indians (American or otherwise) in the NBA and not a single Japanese in the NFL.

Joe, Joe, where is your voice?

[BEST45CAL]

I'm sure there are lots of ex-players out there who would love your job, so shut your f*ckin' pie hole, Joe. This ain't the time or place for your silly observations.

:djd:

[Peachdiane]

The best coaches I've heard are the ones who say, "The best players will play; color won't matter."

funny, i don't hear a similar outcry to get more diversity into the NBA...

[BEST45CAL]

Morgan's a dumbass. There are blacks on both teams.

[dPrasse]

Taveras looks darker than white ... or is my tint on the TV wrong ??

[SmellyFed]

Taveras looks darker than white ... or is my tint on the TV wrong ??

Hispanic... the Astros have plenty of those.

[dPrasse]

Hispanic... the Astros have plenty of those.

ok ... my bad ....

[SmellyFed]

ok ... my bad ....

No problem. Morgan's prose would lead one to believe that the Astros were entirely manned by members of the arian race which isn't quite the case. And even if it was, so what?

Maybe if they were year after year... but I seem to remember some Astros of yore like Moises Alou who were persons of color.

[dPrasse]

looks like the Astros got rid of the wrong "white guy"?

[DesertFox]

If he ain't seen no blacks on the Stros' roster, Joe ain't looked close-enough at Astacio. Dude so black, he make coal look white. He so black, they take pictures of him in negative so you can see him. Cat so black, his teammates don't let him cross the street in front of them.