*!http://active.typepad.com/teamsports/images/2007/04/16/jackierobinson.jpg!http://active.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2007/04/16/jackierobinson.jpg
Jackie Robinson* once said, "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.???? Yesterday, more than 200 Major League Baseball players wore the jersey number 42 yesterday to honor Robinson breaking the color barrier 60 years ago. That's quite an impact, I'????d say.
That impact intensified for a few decades, culminating when MLB's African-American population crested at 27 percent in 1975, according to the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. By 2006, according to the University of Central Florida, only 8.4 percent of big leaguers were black.
After leaving baseball after the 1956 season, Robinson applied himself to other endeavors such as business, politics and the civil rights movement. And while I believe Jackie Robinson would be proud of the progress baseball and society have made regarding equality since he entered the big leagues 60 years ago, I think he would agree that there is still a lot of change that still needs to take place.
Why do you think there has been such a decline of African-Americans in baseball in the past two decades?
(Photo provided by Nam Y. Huh/AP)
