More on the new color line in Western PA baseball

Go read Chuck Curti's latest piece.

Face it, people: baseball has gentrified. The owners, the managers, the players, the fans, and even the advertisers have never been more well-off or even downright aristocratic. (I don't begrudge Derek Jeter one dime or one adoring look, but just want to point out that the man, like many ball stars, is revered as royalty. And when Jeter graduated from high school, he was "torn" between becoming a doctor (like his pop) or becoming a baseball player. This is a guy who knew, at fourteen, that he would make some money as a grown-up even if his career as a baseball player didn't work out.)

Baseball is no longer the sport of choice for the working, lower-middle, or even middle classes in this country. Pro basketball owners, fans, and players may be just as aristocratic (e.g., "King James") but there's a common perception that more basketball players embody the classic rags-to-riches story that gives this wealth and high position an ironic and alluring edge. A huge reason basketball and football appear to offer more opportunities for economic advancement lies in the fact that they do, in fact, offer more opportunities for economic advancement. Education is the surest path of upward mobility, and today's colleges and universities focus on basketball and football and thus offer many more scholarships for those sports. Youngsters with plenty of dough don't regard their sport of choice as their best chance to attend college. From Curti:

Emphasizing one sport usually means that the goal is to gain a college scholarship. Football and basketball offer many opportunities for athletes to get into college - and perhaps get noticed by pro scouts - via full scholarships.

Baseball, however, does not have the same luxury. The NCAA permits Division I baseball teams to have a maximum of 11.7 scholarships, hardly enough to fill out a roster of 25 to 30 players.

Garrido says most college baseball players are on one-half to one-quarter scholarships. And many colleges don't even get the full 11.7 to offer. Duquesne University, for example, gets eight.

"There's just not much incentive for African-American athletes," says Garrido.

These guys are looking for financial incentive and baseball does not provide it. No doubt many African-American athletes won't attend college without some kind of athletic scholarship. Until more African-American families live in affluence, not so many pre-teen African American athletes will choose baseball. College athletes who fail to make the NBA or NFL can at least graduate with a college degree. College-aged baseball athletes who are good enough to warrant the support of a pro team are going to play in the low minors. Last I checked, four years at Williamsport, Hickory, and Lynchburg will not qualify a young man for other lines of work as will four years at State College.