October 25, 2005
Rant - Joe Morgan Can Eat My Poo
Joe Morgan is whining and screaming, apparently: the Astros have zero black/African American players on their team. Seems like a big deal - seems racist. But, after a few paragraphs of "this hasn't been seen since the Fifties" even the Yahoo story admits blacks are "just about" 9 percent of MLB players. "Just about" means less than.
So, one in every eight and a half players is black. None of the Astros 40 men are black. Quick, Roy, is this really as statistically improbable as Morgan is making it out to be? I don't think so. And, as only 6 percent of D-1 college balplayers are black, it's going to be a lot more common.
In the article, Selig pays a lot of lip service to "we have to try harder to find black athletes." Why? So what? Who cares if a player is black, white, latin, asian, etc.? Joe Morgan can kiss my ass. Houston was the first team that set up a scouting program in South America, right? - rather than priasing the move to open the league to Hispanic dudes, they're letting Joe Morgan stir up "controversy." You want to end racism? Tell sensationalists to shut the hell up, and we'll be a lot closer. "Diversity" is retarded in merit-based programs: sports, colleges, etc. I agree with ChiSox GM Williams - the only black MLB GM, btw - who says, in the FA, "It just happened that way. I could care less what the makeup of the club is as long as it works as a whole." Exactly.
Posted by Chris at October 25, 2005 07:51 PMWell, I could be wrong, but I believe uh, diversity is an old wooden ship that was used during the civil war era.
However Morgan comes across in the story, I believe he is concerned about the decline of black major leaguers. I don't believe that he accuses Major League baseball of being racist. Actually, I think he says the opposite: "There's a perception among African-American kids that they're not welcome here, that baseball is not for inner-city kids," Morgan said. "It's not true, and I hate that the perception is out there." I guess it depends on what perception he is talking about, the perception of being unwelcome or the perception that baseball is not for inner city kids.
In 2003, 17 percent of major leaguers were black, and now slightly more than half that number. I don't know about the validity of the 'college-oriented' argument, but it strikes me as bogus. The Latin players do not fall into this category.
This is also responsible for the sharp decline in "stolen" bases. Get it? Oh I'm hilarious.
'cause Blacks steal
yeah
let's assume the proportion of black players is 9% and they are randomly distributed. then the number of black players on a team of 40 players is essentially follows a binomial distribution (actually a hypergeometric distribution, but i don't feel like looking up the total numbers of black and non-black players on all the teams). then the probability that there would be 0 black players on a 40-man team is about .02. wait, why is it out of 40, don't baseball rosters have 25 players? if it's only 25, then the probability is about .09.
Posted by: roy at October 27, 2005 01:18 AMI thought baseball teams had 40-man active rosters...if I'm right, than the two-precent chance doesn't look good for me. If it's 25-man, then the 9% chance looks better. I've played poker hands with worse percentages. But then, I am a poor poker player.
Thanks for laying down the smartness.
Posted by: Chris at October 27, 2005 01:27 AMRoy, how does the probability change when you consider the chance of an all white team occuring in one season out of the past 20 years? 2% for any given season seems kind of low, but not real bad considering how long baseball's been going on.
Posted by: Fatboy at October 27, 2005 09:59 AMThe negro leagues had all black players, and I didn't hear white people complaining.
Damn am I insensitive or what? Just jokes!!
Posted by: Nate at October 27, 2005 01:27 PMAt any time, those on the 25 man roster (active roster) are eligible to play in a game. The 40 man roster has something to do with the disabled list and minor leaguers. In September the active roster is expanded to 40. Playoff rosters are 25 men.
Posted by: John at October 27, 2005 02:00 PM