Last week the Associated Press filed a story about the prevalence of minorities in major league baseball. According to this story, black representation in major league baseball has dropped to nine percent. While that only slightly under-represents the black population in the United States, it is a significantly smaller percentage than the other major sports.

The story does not go very far to discern the reason for this trend except to quote Joe Morgan hypothesizing that African-American kids do not feel welcome in baseball. The story also quotes Commissioner Bud Selig saying “We know that we have work to do. We'll continue to intensify our efforts.” But I'm one of those “Work Smarter, Not Harder” people. I think that it is important to really figure out why multiple teams, including the World-Series-attending Houston Astros, had zero black players before diving headlong into some vague initiative to change it.

This story did not mention any systemic barrier preventing qualified black athletes from achieving major league status. The problem addressed in this story has to do with the pool of potential baseball players. As Morgan says, that could be because of a perception among black youth that they aren't welcome in baseball.

However, it could also be a reflection of a general downward trend in the popularity of baseball, say from a certain strike about 10 years ago. The eight-year-olds of 1994, alienated by baseball, could conceivably have turned their attention to Michael Jordan and eliminated themselves from today's baseball consideration.

With fewer athletes interested in the baseball, the reduction in the pool of candidates of the minorities would be more apparent than the reduction in the pool of candidates of the majority, simply because of the numbers. When a potential baseball player of any race decides to pursue a different sport instead, there are going to be more white potential players to take his place.

If that is the case, then baseball needs to work on improving its esteem with young'uns across the board, not just zero in on the inner cities. Furthermore, baseball needs to act now to capitalize on the current waning popularity of basketball and reap the benefits 10 years from now.

But how can baseball appeal to the eight-year-olds of today? Appeal to their parents.

Baseball already has a reputation for being wholesome (steroid scandals notwithstanding) and for providing role models (if increasingly monochromatic ones). But baseball also seems stodgy and old-fashioned. This sport that used to be the trendsetter is now so steeped in tradition that it's become antiquated.

Case-in-point: baseball's relationship with the “minority” that makes up more than half of the population. Major League Baseball doesn't let women play: fine. I find it unlikely that there has never been even one woman through history who could have played, but fine. That still doesn't explain why there are no female managers, general managers, bench coaches, hitting instructors, pitching coaches, or base coaches. I cannot accept that there has never been a woman who has been qualified and willing to do one of these jobs, so I can only assume that they have been prevented from it, or, at the very least, never been recruited to.

It's difficult for an old sport, such as baseball, to decide which of its habits are venerable and which are just outdated. The system that has churned men from prospect to player to coach is well seasoned, but if room is never made for a woman in that system, there will never be room for one. And in an age where a family's entertainment choices are made increasingly by women, it would make sense for baseball to try to appeal to women, who, if alienated by baseball, could conceivably turn their attention to the WNBA or other sports and effectively eliminate their children from tomorrow's baseball consideration.

Rosa Parks died this week, and though I'm stretching to make a baseball connection here, I felt like it was important to write this up at the time, so here goes.

For those of you who failed American History, Rosa Parks is known as the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement after an incident on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955. She had taken a seat on the bus home from work, but, as a black woman on a segregated bus, was required to leave her seat a few stops later when enough white passengers boarded that they didn't have enough seats.

Parks refused to leave her seat and was arrested. In response, the black community of Montgomery, led by a young Martin Luther King, Jr., boycotted the bus system. Meanwhile, Parks challenged her conviction to the Supreme Court, who found the segregation laws to be unconstitutional.

When I was a kid, I saw photos of Rosa Parks and thought she looked like a grandmother. I imagined a scene on a bus with some slick, entitled white guy gruffly barking at the kind little old black lady to move out of his seat. The little old lady, angry but dignified, raps him across the knees with her cane. The entire bus, the entire city, the entire world, erupts in spontaneous applause that she taught that young upstart some manners.

As a kid, of course, I didn't appreciate that I was looking at current photos of an American icon still living. In my mind, all great historical characters were from a time long past; of course photos of her were from the relevant period in her life.

Now I realize, though, that the woman standing up for herself on that bus wasn't a picturesque matron with a lifetime of character and little to lose. She was a young, hard-working, probably angry woman. And she didn't lash out like an old mother correcting a child, but as a downtrodden individual sick of being kicked around all the time.

But, most importantly, this young woman wasn't out looking to change the world. She did not go to an ivy league school or use well-placed connections to start a crusade. She was just a regular woman on a bus who was presented with a choice: lie down and let someone walk all over her or stand up, risk everything, and be true to herself. She did not know that this choice would be her opportunity for greatness. She just knew she was tired and had been sitting there first.

You can rarely predict how a person will affect the world. The mightiest of kings can be forgotten to antiquity while a single kind and nameless Samaritan can define an entire race for thousands of years. You cannot force opportunities for greatness to materialize, nor can you deny them when they present themselves. You don't have to be rich or beautiful or powerful or brilliant or motivated. The opportunity for greatness can appear anywhere to anyone.

(Here's where I make the tenuous baseball tie-in) If you read Red Hot Mama, you're likely a baseball fan, and probably one of the things you enjoy about the game is the opportunity to witness greatness. Whether it's the super-slugger with the walk-off grand slam or the kind fella dedicating his time to local underprivileged youth, people like to be near greatness.

But what we forget is that each of us holds the potential for greatness at any place, at any time. It just takes the opportunity to make that choice that changes the world. And like Rosa Parks, we might not even realize that it is our opportunity while it's happening. All we can do is always be true to ourselves.

I almost skipped the Friday Night Raps this week, what with the big Aurilia announcement plus the two additional posts I plan to put up tonight or later this weekend. But when I thought about depriving you, my loyal reader, of '80s novelty rap, I realized I just couldn't do that to you. That being the case, yo, VIP, let's kick it.

Now that the party is jumping
With the bass kicked in and the vegas are pumpin'
Quick to the point to the point no faking
I'm cooking MC's like a pound of bacon
Burning them if you ain't quick and nimble
I go crazy when I hear a cymbal
And a hi-hat with a souped up tempo
I'm on a roll and it's time to go solo
Rollin' in my 5.0
With my rag-top down so my hair can blow
The girlies on standby waving just to say hi
Did you stop no I just drove by
Kept on pursuing to the next stop
I busted a left and I'm heading to the next block
The block was dead
Yo so I continued to A1A Beachfront Avenue
Girls were hot wearing less than bikinis
Rockman lovers driving Lamborghinis
Jealous 'cause I'm out getting mine
Shay with a guage and Vanilla with a nine
Reading for the chumps on the wall
The chumps acting ill because they're so full of eight balls
Gunshots rang out like a bell
I grabbed my nine all I heard were shells
Falling on the concrete real fast
Jumped in my car slammed on the gas
Bumper to bumper the avenue's packed
I'm trying to get away before the jackers jack
Police on the scene you know what I mean
They passed me up confronted all the dope fiends
If there was a problem yo I'll solve it
Check out the hook while my DJ revolves it

Yeah, it just wouldn't have been Friday without that.

As long as we're here, might as well mention that , so it looks like he won't be a Met next year. Hey, the Reds are looking for relievers, aren't they?

Ortiz, too (but who didn't see that coming?), so says Mr. Lancaster:

The Reds and Rich Aurilia have mutually agreed to decline his $2 million option for 2006. The Reds have also declined their $4.55 million option on Ramon Ortiz, though he remains arbitration-eligible. Barring something completely unforeseen, I imagine they'll non-tender Ortiz by December.

Apparently, the Reds are leaving the door open to bringing Aurilia back as a free agent, depending on what else is out there.

Decline the $2 million but possibly bring him back later for less? Why didn't I think of that??

Once again, a handful of Reds bloggers got together this week to discuss matters of deep, deep importance. And, once again, it ended in me utterly failing to make the rest of the guys see the error of their ways.

Maybe one of these days I'll make them understand. In the meantime, enjoy part III. Links to the rest below.

RHM: Look, Freel can't handle 2B every day
sweaver: They were all untested at one time…until someone tests them
RHM: And Bergolla's not ready to do it all by himself, maybe not even half time
Blade: Then we keep Aurilia and only play him against righties, at home
Chad -- RN: Freel has twice as much range as Aurillia (though I'll concede his hands aren't as good)
RHM: But this infield is already carrying Encarnacion and Flopez
Blade: Someone could buy Narron Stratomatic or something
sweaver: No, Freel can't play everyday…..but if Aurilia is at second, Freel is pushing Encarnacion out
Joel: my thinking is that the Reds should do whatever they can to improve the defense up the middle
sweaver: Freel is good for about 120 games
sweaver: Defense would help a lot
Joel: and I don't think the Freel or Aurilia are the answer to improved defense
Chad -- RN: Aurilia doesn't improve the defense up the middle.
Blade: Who's available out on the market at second base this year
RHM: What makes Freel special is his versatility
sweaver: We need a Morgan-style trade
JDArney: whoa, whoa whoa, EdE and Felipe are both plus defenders
RHM: And both kids
Chad -- RN: Agree, JD!
Joel: you can get the defense cheap ($1.5-2 million)
JDArney: errors don't tell the whole story, or even much of the story
sweaver: Kids and defense go together…because of range
RHM: I didn't say their defense was bad
RHM: I'm saying they need role models
JDArney: you said the infield was “carrying” them
RHM: You're right. Poor choice of words. “Containing”
Joel: I think she meant that there was already a bunch of youth in the infield
Chad -- RN: Whining Aurilia is a role model? No thanks. I don't want Encarnacion emulating him.
RHM: Chad - What's wrong with Aurilia as a role model?
Chad -- RN: He did nothing but complain all year long.
JDArney: Aurilia complained quite a bit this past season about playing time
JDArney: Much of it while he was hitting under .200
RHM: He wanted to play
Chad -- RN: Good. Don't whine in the papers about it.
Joel: the only thing I would say to that RHM is that Felipe didn't complain once during April, even though he outplayed Aurilia in Spring Training
RHM: Complaining doesn't make a person a bad player or a bad person.
RHM: If it did, you'd all be in a lot of trouble 😛
Chad -- RN: I don't want EdE emulating him.
Joel: ouch
sweaver: No, but Aurilia is 35, and has little range. He is not the player the Reds need
JDArney: I don't mind complaining, and I give athletes a ton of leeway to act however they want, but when you're flat out sucking then it's probably a good idea to keep your mouth shut
RHM: 1) What's wrong with 35?
JDArney: 35 is on the down side of a career, Aurilia is more likely to decline from here on out than to improve
RHM: 2) Do you have numbers to back up this “range”?
RHM: 3) Who *does* the Reds need then?
Blade: What about Olmedo, what's the story on him
sweaver: For second base…Jorge Cantu from Tampa, Chris Burke from Houston,
RHM: I don't know those characters.
Chad -- RN: I don't mind Olmedo as a backup.
JDArney: im fine with giving Bergolla a shot
Blade: BP actually has Aurilia above average in the field in 2005
JDArney: he's not going to be terrific as a hitter, but he's going to be a solid fielder
JDArney: or olmedo, same story
Blade: FRAA of 2 at second base
Chad -- RN: Bergolla and Olmedo strike me as the same player, but Bergolla probably has a higher upside
sweaver: Aurilia had a low Zone Rating, and a low range factor especially for someone on a bad team
RHM: Don't get me wrong, I'd be open to someone else at 2B
sweaver: (long link)
RHM: But I would want to see someone who's not a rookie
RHM: Someone who's a better value for the money
RHM: Someone who's just a flexible
sweaver: “Not rookies” are not cheap
JDArney: what's wrong with rookies?
RHM: Exactly!
RHM: That's why I think Aurilia's not such a horrible choice.
sweaver: Marcus Giles would be too expensive
JDArney: as long as you only have one (or two if you count EdE) starting I don't think rookies are bad
sweaver: Dreamcasting: Reds sign Furcal to play SS, move Lopez to 2B.
sweaver: Never happen
JDArney: I'd rather they spend the money on pitching than Furcal
JDArney: Or Giles
Chad -- RN: Rookies are underrated.
JDArney: Yep, you want to spend your money on future performance, not past performance.
RHM: They need guidance

Part I on Red Reporter
Part II on Shawn's Cincinnati Reds Blog
Part IV on The Cutting Edge
Part V on Reds and Blues
Part VI on Redleg Nation