Dusty Baker 'Ashamed of the Game' over Lack of US-Born Black Players in World Series

Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker is gearing up for a tough battle against the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2022 World Series, but he's thinking about more than just the matchup itself with Game 1 set for Friday night.

This year's World Series is the first in 72 years to not feature a single U.S.-born Black player, and Baker told USA Today's Bob Nightengale that it is "terrible for the state of the game."

"Wow! Terrible," Baker said. "I’m ashamed of the game. Quote me. I am ashamed of the game."

Baker added:

"Well, I don't think that's something that baseball should really be proud of. It looks bad. It lets people know that it didn't take a year, or even a decade to get to this point.

"But there is help on the way. You can tell by the number of African-American No. 1 draft choices (four of the first five picks in 2022). The academies are producing players. So hopefully in the near future we won't have to talk about this anymore or even be in this situation."

Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, also told Ben Walker of the Associated Press earlier this week that having no U.S.-born Black players set to take the field in this year's Fall Classic is "startling."

"That is eye opening. It is somewhat startling that two cities that have high African American populations, there's not a single Black player," Kendrick said. "It lets us know there's obviously a lot of work to be done to create opportunities for Black kids to pursue their dream at the highest level."

Both the Astros and Phillies have a number of Latino and Afro Latino players on their respective rosters, though none of the Black players were born in the United States. Astros second baseman Jose Altuve is from Venezuela, Phillies infielder Jean Segura is from the Dominican Republic and Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez is from Cuba.

Baseball has a lengthy history of racism, and before Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson broke MLB's color barrier when he debuted for the then-Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947, Black players were barred from competing in the league, instead forced into the Negro Leagues, which operated between the 1920s and 1940s.

While having no U.S.-born Black players set to suit up in the 2022 World Series is certainly concerning, diversity across MLB is expanding, with 38 percent of players on 2022 Opening Day rosters having come from racially diverse backgrounds—Black, Latino, Asian, Pacific Islander and Native American—per MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince.

However, just 7.2 percent of Black players on 2022 Opening Day rosters were born in North America. That's a decline from 7.6 percent in 2021. Baker and L.A. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts are the only Black managers in the league.

MLB is trying to address the issue at the foundational level, and there is some optimism for the game moving forward. Four of the top five picks in the 2022 MLB draft are U.S.-born Black players, including Druw Jones (Arizona Diamondbacks), Kumar Rocker (Texas Rangers), Termarr Johnson (Pittsburgh Pirates) and Elijah Green (Washington Nationals).

In addition, a number of American-born Black players are listed in MLB.com's Top 100 prospects, including Jordan Walker (St. Louis Cardinals), James Wood (Nationals) and Cam Collier (Cincinnati Reds).