Baseball: An HBCU Pastime Once Again

November 2, 2022

By Cameron Finn, Sports Writer

Baseball.

What once was America’s pastime has become a white-dominated sport in the U.S.

The game of baseball in the 1920s was loved by all Americans: both Black and white. With the creation of the Negro Leagues in the 1920s, Black baseball athletes found a way to push forward to play professionally in this sport even as they faced racism and adversity. One bright spot was that HBCUs always gave Black baseball athletes the chance to play the game they loved at a collegiate level.

Joe Black from Morgan State University started in the Negro Leagues and then became the first Black pitcher to win a World Series in his rookie season. In Louisiana, Southern University in Baton Rouge has produced baseball greats like World Series champion Lou Brock, Golden Spike award recipient Rickie Weeks, Jr. and Grambling State University produced Mets Hall of Famer Tommie Agee.

Xavier University played its final baseball game in 1960 before the baseball program was closed. It was revived in 2019 and Coach Adrian Holloway was chosen to lead Xavier’s baseball into the future.

“The history of baseball at HBCUs is rich,” Holloway said. “We must try and help add to the number of Blacks in Major League Baseball.”

In 2015, the percentage of African Americans in the Major Leagues was at 7.7-percent. Having baseball at an HBCU presents a chance for Black kids to be represented and in turn would make them want to participate in the sport, Holloway added.

“I was inspired by Marcus Stroman and his dedication to not letting the lack of representation affect how he expresses himself as a Black man,” said Xavier baseball player Lawrence Steed from Tallahassee, Fla. who is studying biology, pre- medicine. Stroman is a pitcher for the Chicago Cubs. Baseball needs more icons like Stroman to inspire young Black athletes to see themselves in the sport and HBCUs are giving them that chance, Steed said.

Unlike baseball, sports like basketball and football have huge African American representation. Roughly 73.2-percent of NBA players are Black and 58-percent of NFL players are Black. Young Black athletes must know that baseball is not only a “white sport,” and that there are opportunities to thrive in baseball just as easily as every sport, players said.

Xavier’s baseball team plays their home games at Major League Baseball’s Urban Youth Academy. The Academy gives free lessons to kids in the surrounding neighborhoods to spread the game to underprivileged African American children.

“Please bring the kids to the game, you never know who will be inspired to be the next Jackie Robinson or Ken Griffey Jr.,” Coach Holloway said.

The Xavier baseball season restarts on Feb. 5, 2023, with the Gold Rush taking on Tougaloo College.