MLB gets best grade for hiring diversity; # of black players drops

[flowomo]

(AP)
NEW YORK -- Major League Baseball received its best grade for racial diversity in hiring, even as the percentage of black players dropped again last year.

MLB received its first A-minus for race Tuesday from Richard Lapchick, director of the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports. Its grade was B-plus in last year's study.

Among major leaguers, though, just 8.2 percent were black players, down from 8.4 percent in 2006 and the lowest level in at least two decades. The percentage of black pitchers remained at 3 percent.

"Baseball has probably lost a whole generation here," Lapchick said. "African-Americans just aren't playing it at this point. They're going to have to increase their efforts."

Although MLB has established its Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities program and urban youth academies, Lapchick said it will take many years for those efforts to pay off.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3347739

[provis99]

1. their gender hiring grade is bizarre

They only get a C, despite having 42% of their staff as female? It's a men's sport! Even hiring one female should get you an A for being remarkable!