On Wednesday, MLB announced it will host its first-ever HBCU All-Star game during next year’s Midsummer Classic festivities in Seattle.
The “HBCU Swingman Classic” will invite 50 Division I players chosen by scouts, MLB and MLBPA executives, and Ken Griffey Jr., who is playing a major role in the event.
MLB hopes the game will help combat a troubling trend: In recent years, the number of Black players in MLB have steadily declined. In 2021, for example, only 7% of the league’s players were Black.
In a statement, Griffey Jr. addressed several issues HBCU athletes face with making it to the big leagues, including a lack of media exposure and financial barriers. He hopes the HBCU Swingman Classic will help combat some of those inequities.
“Over the years, we have seen the decline of African American players, not because they don’t want to play, but rather because they haven’t been seen,” Griffey Jr. said in a statement. “So, this effort is the industry coming together to give these kids an opportunity to play the game they love on the national stage.”
The initiative is the latest of several attempts by MLB to bolster racial diversity.
- In 2017, the league created an event called the MLB Dream Series for top youth players to receive visibility.
- A year later, it commenced a summer workshop for a diverse group of 200 high school aged players called the Hank Aaron Invitational.
- In 2021, commissioner Rob Manfred pledged $150 million to diversity in baseball.
There have been some early improvements: Four out of the top five 2022 draftees are Black — and they all participated in the MLB Dream Series.
But clearly, there’s more work to do.
“Players believe that creating opportunities to showcase underserved Black baseball talent will result in a more competitive and exciting game in years to come,” MLBPA Senior Director of International and Domestic Player Operations, Leonor Colon, said in a statement. “The Midsummer Classic can become an important vehicle to achieve that goal.”
