Former Two Live Crew mainstay Luther Campbell is no stranger to the Miami sports scene and uses this week’s Jackie Robinson Day celebrations to essentially amplify Torii Hunter’s remarks from last spring. “(Baseball’s) plan, argues Campbell, “is to eliminate black Americans and replace them with Dominicans.” From Tuesday’s New Times (link culled from Baseball Think Factory) :
Major League Baseball adopted a sweatshop mentality by targeting countries like the Dominican Republic, where players don’t have a chance of being drafted or getting a scholarship right out of high school. A baseball team has to pay much more money to the African-American kid coming out of college than a kid from Santo Domingo or Puerto Plata. A former pro baseball player who is now a minor league coach told me all about the farm system in Latin American countries. The Dominicans often accept being shipped to minor league farm systems where they have to sleep dormitory-style, 100 to a room. In Mexico, minor league players have to play games all day and all night. Sometimes a game doesn’t start till midnight. And every Major League Baseball team has people on the ground scouting for talent.
How do the Florida Marlins manage to field a competitive team and keep the payroll low? Because the club has one of the best farm systems in Major League Baseball. They can get top-of-the-line Dominican players at a bargain price.
Much as I hate to credit the Marlins with anything , the Fish have also consistently developed players who were born-in-the-USA. If a small percentage were black, that’s a charge that could also be leveled at MLB clubs with much higher payrolls.