Baseball is considered America’s pasttime.
And Major League Baseball is comprised of players from all over the globe today. With the sport’s biggest star hailing from Japan, and countless other stars coming from Latin America.
But New York Yankees infielder Jazz Chisholm doesn’t see it that way.
“I don’t want to say this. Baseball is a White sport. I feel like White people criticize everything that a Black man does. Black men are outspoken. They say what’s on their minds,” he told The Athletic.
“The unwritten rules of baseball are White. And I always broke the unwritten rules of baseball.”
When Chisholm made his MLB debut with the Miami Marlins in 2020, he wasted no time showing off his flair with customized cleats. But longtime MLB veteran Miguel Rojas cut up one pair with scissors and ruined another by pouring milk on them.
“Nobody would ever cut up my cleats or throw my things away if I were White,” Chisholm claimed. “I’ll tell you right now, if this was a White boy’s stuff, you weren’t gonna cut that s— up because if a White boy goes and complains, now everybody’s f—ed. I go and complain, and it’s not that big of a deal. It’s, ‘Let’s try and find a solution for this.’ But if a White boy goes and complains, nah, f— that.”
Just 6% of players on opening day rosters last year were Black, the lowest figure since 1991. The league’s percentage of Black players hasn’t been in double-digits since 2008, and the figure ranged from 17 to 19% from 1973 to 1988, according to a Fox report.