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Clutch Hits - Race and Violence (December 18, 2003)

Posted 1:28 a.m., December 23, 2003 (#4) - Virgil, now the Voice of Uncertainty in this Issue
I think like one reader brought up in the original Clutch Hits thread, a lot of it has to do with socioeconomic reasons.

This analogy will turn out to be a vast generalization, is the easy way out, and I'm no sociologist, but here goes:

To become a good pitcher, you need good instruction. Pitching mechanics are not as well known as hitting mechanics - you can watch a good player take a swing at a ball on TV and mimic it easily. But mimicking more than a pitcher's unorthodox windup is more complex. Players are natural hitters more than natural pitchers - and to be durable in the major leagues you have to have fair mechanics. Good instruction tends to entail spending of money. A lot of United States minorities can't afford this specialized instruction or this instruction isn't as readily available to them as it is in the baseball-crazed Dominican Republic.

Also, in sandlot or high school ball, the most athletic players always play SS, 2B, CF. The same goes for the major leagues - blacks and hispanics tend to be faster and more athletic, and more are brought up as pitchers.

And yes, I'd be a lot more interested in minority catchers. Although... that gear costs a lot of money...

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