Before Civil Rights Game, Preston Wilson Looks at MLB's Race Issues

On the eve of Opening Day, Major League Baseball is set to honor the Civil Rights movement and Jackie Robinson's historic career tonight when the Cardinals and the Indians play the Civil Rights game in Memphis.

It is sure to be an important celebration, but at the same time, it is a reminder that many African-Americans are gravitating away from the game of baseball, a trend Preston Wilson talked to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about today:

The veteran Wilson is the only African-American player on the Cardinals' projected opening day roster. He has witnessed the steady ebb of black athletes from the game for two decades.

"I think the perception is if there's a dark-skinned Latin guy out there, then he's black," Wilson said before Friday's game against the Memphis Redbirds. "A lot of people don't differentiate. But it's not the case. There are a lot of issues involved." ...

"There are no mediocre guys who are black who are the 25th man on their roster. It just doesn't happen. We don't get those jobs. You can say it sounds whatever. But it's true. Name one."

There are all sorts of issues here, most of them sensitive, so I'll just say this: it's good the sport is trying to address this issue, or that they are at least openly aware of it. There's too much athletic talent out there -- the next Ken Griffey Jr., perhaps -- that is being lost to hoop dreams and football pads. Bully for those sports, sure, but the loss of those athletes and their cultural perspectives is a sad loss for the MLB and baseball in general.

For more on the Civil Rights game, including MLB V.P. of baseball operations Jimmie Lee Solomon's take on MLB's race issue, here's MLB.com's story.

(Post-Dispatch story via Baseball Primer Newsblog)