The African-American percentage in baseball this season has dropped to 8.05%, which is less than half the percentage of 17.25% in 1959 when the Boston Red Sox became the last team to integrate their roster. It's down from 8.5% last season, and a dramatic decline from the peak of 1975, when 27% of all rosters were African-American. Even as late as 1995, the percentage was 19%.
"Baseball likes to say things are getting better,'' says former 20-game winner and front-office executive Dave Stewart, who's now an agent. "It's not getting better. It's only getting worse. We've been in a downward spiral for a long time, and the numbers just keep declining.''
