MLB has lowest percentage of Black players in 30 years
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- As all eyes are on this year's World Series match-up between the Astros and the Phillies, CBS3 also wants to take a look at the history and diversity of Major League Baseball, so we spoke to a family member of a former Philadelphia Negro League Player.
An original Louisville Slugger is one of Mahlene Duckette Lee's most prized possessions.
Mahlon Duckette, her father, was drafted in 1940 to the Philadelphia Stars, a championship-winning Negro League team known for having some of the best Black baseball talents on their roster.
"He was known for his speed," Lee said of her father.
Duckett's daughter credits the men of the Negro League for paving the way for Jackie Robinson to break the color barrier in 1947.
"That was like a bittersweet time because it was wonderful that it happened, that the doors were opening, but it also began the demise of the Negro League," Lee said.
In the decades following, MLB saw a proliferation of Black players.
"I think back not too long ago when Jimmy Rollins was here, Ryan Howard was here," Duckette Lee said.
However, currently, MLB has its lowest percentage of Black players in 30 years
In this year's World Series between the Phillies and Astros, there are zero American-born Black players on the field – a first since 1950.
"They would not be here, had it not been for the men in the Negro Leagues," Lee said.
Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker expressed his disappointment saying "it looks bad," but is optimistic about the future
And so is Lee, who's preserving the legacy of the Philadelphia Stars through a nonprofit called the Philadelphia Urban League Academy.
"I think they're strategies and there are ways that can address and turn this around," Lee said.
MLB has yet to respond to CBS3's request for a comment on this story.
