It’s now to the point where last year’s World Series was the first since 1950 that didn’t have a U.S.-born Black player on either roster. At that time, 18% of players in the majors were Black. When Senior and Junior were teammates with the Mariners in 1991, it was the first year of the TIDES study. The elder Griffey, now 73, reminisced at a time during his playing career when demographic participation rates weren’t tracked, but anecdotally nearly 30% of the majors comprised of U.S.-born Black players. and Griffey’s dad - known at this point as Senior.
Others helping include Dawson, Marquis Grissom, Harold Reynolds, Rickie Weeks Jr. Jerry Manuel and Bo Porter are managers for the game. Griffey isn’t alone in this mission, or the first game. but it was one of those things that needed to be done,” Griffey said. He’s seen firsthand some of the resource limitations facing HBCU schools, but from a slightly different perspective - his youngest son Tevin plays football at Florida A&M. This isn’t simply his name and logo attached to the title for the sake of interest and attention. Griffey’s participation in the event is not passive. “I just want for these kids to have an opportunity to believe in themselves and go out and play.” “I would love to see the numbers to my dad’s when he played, but that’s so far from now,” said Griffey, whose father played from 1973-91, overlapping with the careers of HBCU standouts like Lou Brock and Dawson. It’s another title Griffey hopes can eventually be added to his career resume - someone who helped grow and create opportunities for under-recognized Black players. That is why Griffey pushed for this event to be part of All-Star weekend rather than his original thought of having it take place during the Hank Aaron Invitational in Florida, an MLB-MLBPA Youth Development Foundation sponsored event focused on youth players. There wasn’t a single HBCU alum on a major league roster on opening day this season, either. players represented just 6.2% of players on MLB opening day rosters, down from last year’s previous record low of 7.2%. That’s partly the goal, especially with how current numbers have tracked.Ī recent study from The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at Central Florida found Black U.S. “Having his name on it draws attention from people who would have had no idea about it.” I think a lot more people see his name and they get drawn to it just because he’s Ken Griffey Jr.,” said Trey Paige, who played this past season at Delaware State.
For some, it may have been the biggest stage they’ve ever played on and the best opportunity for scouts and executives to see that despite limited resources compared to others in Division I baseball, their talent deserves to be showcased. “How many lives will that one person change? That’s all we’re trying to do.”įifty players in total were selected to take part. I mean, if I can give an opportunity for a kid, one kid, two kids, three kids to be seen, how many kids can that be over the next five, 10, 15 years?” Griffey said. The event was an idea generated by Griffey, fostered into reality with help from MLB and the MLB-MLBPA Youth Development Foundation, and comes at a time when U.S.-born Black representation in the majors is at its lowest level since tracking began more than 30 years ago. Griffey spent time in both dugouts doing television commentary and chatting with participants, and the entire stadium of roughly 10,000 fans broke out singing and dancing when Naughty By Nature’s “Hip Hop Hooray,” - Griffey’s walk-up song in the 1990s - was played between innings. Former Negro League players Sam Allen, Pedro Sierra and the family of Josh Gibson were honored before the game. Griffey delivered the game ball to fellow Hall of Famer Andre Dawson, who played at Florida A&M in the 1970s, for the ceremonial first pitch.
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