Doug Hosterman, a graduate of Deltona High School in Deltona, Fl., is a white baseball player who played at Bethune-Cookman University.
“The best way I always describe it is that our team was one third white, one third black and one third Latino,” Hosterman said. “My coach took a lot of heat from various directions about how having a mixed group of players at a historically black college was somehow wrong.”
Hosterman described that Bethune-Cookman was approximately 92 percent black in his time there, but the baseball team did not represent the demographics of the school at all. He feels that fielding the best team possible was more important than keeping racial traditions.
“Some of the other historically black colleges and universities that we played against that kept that tradition of having mainly black players, well their teams weren’t very good and our team of mixed players was winning championships. So coach took some heat for that, but I think winning and putting the best players you can get out there trumps any of that recruiting based on color non-sense,” Hosterman said.
Cases such as Hosterman’s are becoming more common as historically black colleges are pressed to recruit players of all races to field a competitive baseball team. The dwindling numbers of African-Americans in baseball has had an impact on all levels of play and has now caught the attention of many scholars, including Joey Gawrysiak.
Gawrysiak, a graduate student at the University of Georgia, wrote his dissertation on African-American players in baseball to attain a Ph.D. in Sport Management and Policy. An assistant baseball coach at CCHS from 2008-09, Gawrysiak believes the socialization process is the main reason African-Americans have historically stayed away from the sport.
“As (African-American athletes) grow up, ideas are imparted on them about which sports should be played based on their parents, stereotypes present in pop culture, and media images they see on TV,” Gawrysiak said.
After interviewing African-Americans who participated in baseball, Gawrysiak found that in nearly every case, the athletes were uncomfortable with being such a minority on a team.
“(African-American baseball players) often times try not to recognize race as a factor, but it is,” Gawrysiak said. “They talked about how race was always brought up in a joking manner, which helped them to cope, but they were uncomfortable at one point or another. This led some people I interviewed to actually drop out of baseball.”
African-American players tried to ignore the lack of diversity on their teams, but Gawrysiak found that there are underlying racial tendencies involved.
“People tend to downplay race in sports,” Gawrysiak said. “Being a certain race brings with it stereotypes; as kids grow, no matter the race, they hear these stereotypes and begin to ascribe by them.”
Resby has faced such stereotypes regarding participation in baseball.
“Me being black, nobody would expect me to play baseball,” Resby said. “People ask what sport I play and they usually assume basketball or football.”
Other African-American players have similar stories. CCHS junior Deon Mack began the season on the varsity baseball team and was introduced to the game at a young age through a church league. Through the years, Mack has noticed the racial dynamics of baseball and suggests the vast majority of white players in the game deters some African-Americans from playing.
“More African-Americans are only open to football and basketball,” Mack said. “So when they see baseball, they really don’t relate to it because mostly white people play.”
CCHS senior Cevon Freeman, who played varsity baseball last year, grew up watching his father and grandfather play. Gawrysiak noted that growing up with the sport is essential for African-Americans to become involved in baseball.
“(African-Americans) feel like outsiders often times,” Gawrysiak said. “To play baseball later in life, it takes an early introduction and continued reinforcement by parents, siblings, peers, teachers and coaches.”
Freeman had this early introduction to the sport and has tried to recruit classmates to play baseball, but he feels the focus is on different sports.
“Mostly everyone you see around this school depends on football and basketball, and I tried to get people into playing baseball, but it never seems to work,” Freeman said.
Although African-American participation in baseball is low at CCHS, Mack sees a correlation in other sports for non-African-Americans.
“It can be the other way around, say for football, you see maybe a few white players, they’ll have the same talent as me, they’ll just be a different color. So I think it’s the same way with baseball,” Mack said.
The ongoing trend of African-Americans straying away from baseball has become a prominent issue for MLB. In 2010, 17 major league teams had two or fewer African-American players on their opening day rosters.
To combat dwindling participation, MLB began administering the Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) program in 1991. Designed to bring the sport of baseball to underprivileged kids and minorities, RBI has since grown to a worldwide organization with nearly 200,000 participants per year.
With the falling participation at CCHS and throughout the country, Street believes that one of the best courses of action would be to introduce the RBI program in Athens.
“I feel that (RBI) could not only have an extremely positive impact on the diversity of the CCHS baseball team over time but could also help to dismiss some of the stereotypes that have been used to define many African-American athletes,” Street said.
