Jackie Robinson's Legacy Struggling To Stay Alive On The Field and In Broadcast Booths

Saturday, April 15 was Jackie Robinson Day in Major League Baseball. The day commemorates the anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s first day playing in a major league game. On that day, wearing the uniform of the Brooklyn Dodgers with 42 on his back, Robinson became the first Black player in MLB.

Thanks to a request by Ken Griffey, Jr. in 2007 to wear 42 on his uniform on Jackie Robinson Day, all major leaguer players and coaches now wear that number on April 15. In addition, the bases used in major league ballparks that day are emblazoned on the side with “Jackie Robinson Day.”

This year, the MLB teams hosting games on Jackie Robinson Day conducted a variety of activities to honor Robinson’s pathbreaking journey. The Dodgers and Cubs gathered around the Jackie Robinson statue outside Dodgers Stadium and heard from Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, one of only two Black MLB managers this season, and Dodgers outfielder (and former Cub) Jason Heyward. The Astros and Rangers held a joint event with the Players Alliance for Black high school ballplayers in Texas. Astros manager Dusty Baker—the only other Black manager in MLB—was among the group of players and coaches who spoke to the high schoolers about Robinson’s legacy. You can read about other Jackie Robinson Day events here.

(Photo from JackieRobinson.com)

For all the pomp and circumstance of Jackie Robinson Day, the statistics on Black major leagues are grim. Black players comprised only 6.2% of all players on an Opening Day roster this season. That’s a drop from 2022, when 7.2% of Opening Day rosters were comprised of Black players and from 2021, when the figure was 7.6%. According to The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, the percentage of Black players in MLB is at its lowest point since the Institute created its Race and Gender Report Card in 1991. That year, 18 percent of MLB players were Black.

These numbers wouldn’t come as a surprise to Louis Moore, a Professor of History at Grand Valley State University. Professor Moore teaches African-American History, Civil Rights, U.S. History, and the History of Sports. In 2021, he explained in an article for Global Sport Matters that Black players, coaches, and executives rang alarm bells about the drop in Black MLB players back in the 1970’s but their warnings fell on deaf ears at MLB.

In 2020, Curtis Granderson, CC Sabathia, and Edwin Jackson created The Players Alliance to reverse this trend. The three former MLB stars lead the organization’s efforts to “address baseball’s systematic barriers to equity and inclusion by creating pathways to opportunities on and off the field for an undeniable pipeline of black talent.” In 2021, MLB announced a 10-year investment of up to $150 million for Players Alliance programs.

Granderson plays another important role in the effort to attract more Black players to MLB. He is a studio analyst for TBS’s game of the week on Tuesday nights and the network’s broadcasts of National League postseason games. In the TBS studio, Granderson works alongside Jimmy Rollins and Pedro Martinez with host Ernie Johnson or Lauren Shehadi.

Like TBS, other national broadcasters feature a diverse group of analysts. This season, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, and David Ortiz will handle pre and post-game analysis for Fox and Fox Sports. (Jeter is biracial; his father is Black). Dontrelle Willis has joined Apple TV+ as in-game analyst for the Friday night games broadcast by that streaming service. Harold Reynolds is a mainstay on MLB Network. On ESPN, Eduardo Perez does color commentary for Sunday Night Baseball games, with Karl Ravech on play-by-play. On the radio side, Doug Glanville is the regular analyst of Sunday Night Baseball game, working with Boog Sciambi.

Is this good enough? Of course not. There’s not a single person of color doing play-by-play on any national baseball broadcast. That absolutely needs to change.

Local team broadcasts can be at least one pipeline. At least eleven MLB teams employ Black broadcasters on TV and radio, in either a play-by-play or analyst role. (Apologies in advance if my research is not complete. I did my best to capture the current role of Black announcers and analysts on MLB broadcasts).

On the TV side, Dave Sims is the only regular Black play-by-play announcer for an MLB team. He is the voice of the Seattle Mariners TV broadcasts. The Tigers, Marlins, Pirates, Phillies, Padres, Reds, and Twins feature Black former MLB players as analysts on their TV broadcasts:

• Tigers: Craig Monroe, Cameron Maybin

• Marlins: Rod Allen

• Pirates: Kevin Young

• Phillies: Jimmy Rollins

• Padres: Tony Gwynn Jr.

• Reds: Barry Larkin

• Twins: LaTroy Hawkins

The Red Sox’ field reporter during games—Jahmai Webster—is Black, as is Andre Knott, who handles the same responsibilities for Guardians TV broadcasts.

On radio, Robert Ford is regular play-by-play voice of the Houston Astros. Mike Claiborne is part of a three-person radio booth for the St. Louis Cardinals. Former MLB player Darrin Jackson is an analyst for the White Sox radio network.

Black representation in the baseball broadcast booth matters. Black announcers and analysts bring experience and perspective to the job of narrating the on-field play of Black ballplayers—a hugely important function in a society that appears ever more racially divided. They are role models for non-White men and women who aspire to a career in sports broadcasting. And studies show that Americans learn a lot about Black Americans from what they see on TV.

There’s way too much commentary—on TV and online—about playing baseball “the right way” by the set of “unwritten rules” that rookies learn early on and that are enforced by veterans. Whether intentional or not, this chatter hits my ear with a racial overtone, part because it’s nearly always said by white announcers and partly because the “playing the right way” means keeping young players in their place and punishing players who are too flashy or demonstrative.

The unwritten rules and the commentary that relies on them are so, so tired. Sports is entertainment, so let the players entertain in way that’s authenticate to their culture and their true selves.

Letting broadcasters be their true, authentic selves is what excited me about Yonder Alonso’s color commentary in the World Baseball Classic, which I wrote about a few weeks ago. The more broadcasters we have that reflect the diversity of baseball players and the cultures that produced them, the better the game will be.