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What value does Major League Baseball’s All-Star Week hold if future generations don’t see themselves among the sport’s elite… or even on its field?
When Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. was in the early days of his career with the Seattle Mariners in 1991, Black players made up 18% of baseball’s rosters. As the All-Star Game returns to Seattle for the first time since 2001, The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports (TIDES) noted that Black players make up just 6.2% of baseball rosters.
“Over the years, we have seen the decline of African-American players not because they don’t want to play, but rather because they haven’t been seen,” Griffey said.
Coming back to Seattle for All-Star Week, Griffey is teaming with his partners at MLB and its players association—as well as brands like T-Mobile, Nike, Chevrolet and concessionaire Sodexo—to address baseball’s culture and bring Black players back into the game.
As an ambassador for MLB and MLBPA’s Youth Development Foundation—which promotes and sponsors amateur baseball and softball—Griffey is using his own brand to kick off All-Star Week with the first HBCU Swingman Classic on Friday night at Seattle’s T-Mobile Park.
Over the years, we have seen the decline of African-American players, not because they don’t want to play but rather because they haven’t been seen.
Ken Griffey Jr.
The event brings in players and alumni coaches from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) for an exhibition game, but also tries to forge connections that have been lost to Major League Baseball for generations. As the league experiments with events like the Hank Aaron Invitational—which reaches out to high school players of diverse backgrounds—both the game and its sponsors have realized that changing a culture requires full-time commitment.
“Highlighting the talent at HBCU baseball programs is an important part of how we connect with college baseball while also improving African-American representation at all levels of our game,” said MLB chief baseball development officer Tony Reagins.
Cooking up connections
Kevin Fletcher grew up considering Ken Griffey Jr. the greatest baseball player of all time. When Fletcher was really drawn to baseball—during the Mark McGwire/Sammy Sosa home run chase of 1998—he watched Griffey win the All-Star Week Home Run Derby at Coors Field in Denver with his hat on backward, then again at Boston’s Fenway Park in 1999.