Former Anaheim Angel Vladimir Guerrero who signed with the Angels in 2004 and later went into the Hall of Fame in 2018 was one of the big named Hispanics in MLB joining the largest minority group in Major League Baseball (pinterest.com file photo)
Baseball’s Largest Minority Keeps Growing
That’s Amaury News and Commentary
By Amaury Pi-González
The most recent percentage of Hispanic/Latino players in Major League Baseball was 32 percent, African-Americans 7.7 percent (by the way in 1981 an 18.7 percent of MLB players were African Americans) African-American players are the biggest drop in baseball demographics during the last 40 years.
Other demographics of players, Asian/other 2.9 percent, with 57.7 percent white majority. It is now impossible for teams to ignore the Hispanic market. The fact remains that Hispanics are one huge consumer block. According to the Selig Center for Economic Growth (no relation to Bud Selig, ex baseball commissioner) study at the University of Georgia, Hispanic consumers in the US control a total of $ 1.5 trillion in buying power, which is up 212% this decade.
Baseball is a natural sport for Hispanics. Many Latin American countries, for over a century and some (in the Caribbean) for over a century and a half, have been playing baseball. Baseball is a summer game and most countries in Latin America are tropical countries, perfect for playing the greatest game on earth, 365 days a year.
Players from Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Cuba, Puerto Rico, México, Colombia, Panamá, Belize, Brazil, Curacao, Aruba, Honduras, Nicaragua, Jamaica and other countries have played and are playing in major league baseball. There were no Minor Leagues in 2020, where usually the percentage of Hispanic players is even higher than in MLB.
Arturo (Artie) Moreno owner of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim is the one Hispanic owner currently in MLB. Moreno’s first big move right after he bought the Angels in 2004 from Disney Corporation was to sign Dominican Republic superstar Vladimir Guerrero, who went on and retired and in 2018 was inducted to the Hall of Fame.
Guerrero was the first Latino player in the Hall of Fame for the Angels. He went into Cooperstown with an Angel’s uniform. Arte understood the huge Hispanic LA market, one of the reasons he fought in the courts and won to change the name of his team from Anaheim Angels, to Los Angeles Angels.
Although there are only 26 miles of distance apart via Interstate I-5, from Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles to Angels Stadium in Anaheim. The Los Angeles area Hispanic media market is the largest in the United States. The Bay Area is among top ten in the country.
When Rob Manfred became the tenth Commissioner in baseball in 2015 he not only spoke about his plans to “faster play” in the game among his changes, Manfred also said that with Digital media and the Hispanic Market, they can grow baseball.
There still talk about expansion to 32 teams and various locations have been on the table. Manfred have said that while US locations are considered, also places like México City are frequently in the conversation and with over 21 million people is one of the most populous cities in the world.
2020 changed a lot of things; obviously the pandemic was the biggest story. And while baseball can plan for expansion, sometimes things change and you cannot accomplish those plans. Ex-heavyweight champion Mike Tyson once said “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”.
Teams lost hundreds of millions of dollars during a short season, with no fans in the stands, teams revenues took it in the mouth. MLB expansion last happened in 1998 when Tampa Bay Rays and Arizona Diamondbacks were born to what it is today a 30-team league.
Expansion might not be in the front burner as baseball tries to regroup during this pandemic as we began 2021. But still an interesting topic, and I do not think it is likely to happen until the stadium situations in Oakland and Tampa are resolved, and only God knows how long that will take.
The Hispanic market will continue to grow all across the country regardless of expansion or no expansion in major league baseball. The US Census was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic during the fall of 2020.
That is the reason the final statistics were not made public. A pandemic also changes a Census, because (among other logistics) many people need to be reached at home, in other words, census workers have to knock on doors, and that was not considered safe this time.
The growth of the Hispanic population in the country is important as well for all other professional leagues, like the NBA,NFL,NHL and MLS. However, because of it’s history-longevity and tradition, MLB seems to be the one league more inter-twain with this growing demographic.
Spring Training opens in less than a month We will see what happens this 2021,MLB wants a full Spring Training and 162 game schedule/ Will they play all games, some games, all fans (probably some fans) and who knows what else will develop. There were really no experts last year when it came to covid-19, even experts said one thing and then a month later said the complete opposite. Baseball could have shorten the games, the schedule, but this virus still very much the real wild-card.
Stay well and stay tuned.
Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish radio lead play by play voice for the Oakland A’s heard on KIQI 1010 San Francisco and does News and Commentary on http://www.sportsradioservice.com
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