Interesting observations in the fascinating world of sports

Interesting observations in the fascinating world of sports.
This past week was one where three major sports, baseball, basketball and baseball, were all going on at the same time. Yes, I know that there is also soccer, boxing, horse racing, car racing and many others, but those three seem to be the most important ones in our part of the world, although after this last world soccer cup championship in South Africa, soccer is coming on strong.
It is so interesting how experts can be so wrong in the world of sports. Everyone I talked to said that the finals would be between the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies, and now we all know that they were eliminated by the Texas Rangers and the San Francisco Giants. Ultimately, the Giants won it all.
My cousin Jorge Posada who plays for the Yankees must be devastated; I have been on the road and haven’t contacted anyone on the Posada side of the family.
Two-hundred twenty-nine (229) players on Opening Day rosters and disabled lists were born outside the 50 United States in the Major Leagues.Overall, 28.0 percent of the 818 players (748 active 25-man roster players and 70 disabled or restricted Major League players) on April 5th rosters were born outside the 50 United States, representing 15 countries and territories. The all-time highs occurred in 2005, when 29.2 percent (242/829) of Opening Day players were foreign-born, and in 2007, when 246 players were born outside the U.S., totaling 29.0 percent of all players. Last season, 239 players from a pool of 855 were foreign-born, also totaling 28.0 percent.The Dominican Republic has produced the most Major Leaguers born outside the U.S. with 81. Venezuela (52) and Puerto Rico (28) have the next highest totals, followed by Mexico (14); Canada and Japan (13 each); Cuba (7); Curaçao and Panama (4 each); Australia and Korea (3 each); Colombia, Nicaragua and Taiwan (2 each); and the Netherlands (1).
Why then there is not one single player from Haiti, which shares half the island with the Dominican Republic or from Brazil which shares a border with Venezuela and has over 190 million inhabitants? In 161 years, no player has ever come from Brazil or Haiti. Why?
The answer lies in the history of baseball in these countries, not in their racial composition, inborn traits, economic position or climatic factors.
Baseball was introduced in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela in the late 19th century; it became very popular in both places and soon came to be regarded as both countries national sport, even though in most other countries in Central and South America, soccer is the number one sport.
Cuba in the 1950’s before Castro came to power and ruined the country, the majority of foreign players were Cuban and because of the proximity between the US and Cuba (only 90 miles) baseball was also the national sport. Today, there are only 7 and most of them escaped Cuba in order to play.
In the Dominican Republic and in Venezuela, Major League Baseball has opened academies due to the fact that there is a loophole that allows foreign players to be imported for less money than drafting domestic ones. At present, every Major League team funds an academy and summer league in the Dominican Republic and as of now, before President Chavez follows the Cuban model and stops it, Venezuela has 19 developmental facilities in Venezuela. Because of crime, violence and political turmoil, only 9 are still active.
Football is also a very interesting sport.
I used to follow the Miami Dolphins from Puerto Rico and years ago they had a punter named Reggie Roby. He was one of the best punters to ever wear a football uniform, doing it so efficiently that he turned a defensive play into an offensive weapon. Unfortunately Reggie passed away about 4 years ago and he is remembered as a great punter but also as an anomaly in the sport. He was an African American.
In all of NFL history, only five non white men have punted in regular season games. In that 62 year period, there have been 287 NFL punters and yet not one Asian, not one Latino or Hispanic and only five blacks.
How do we account for that serious under representation, when the fact is that more than two thirds of the NFL players are African American?
Why haven’t more African American players taken advantage of their physical strength to punt a ball farther than any white man?
No one is making the case that white people have an anatomical age in punting a freaking football. No one says that Black men can’t kick. Not one single person has said that because there are more poor Black people, Whites have taken over punting and that minorities have no access to football fields, good coaching and enough time to practice.
The other responses we might hear, and they are not true at all, are mainly generic: genetic advantage, economic need, discrimination, lack of access to facilities, lack of role models, geography, politics or whatever.
I have a cousin in Orlando that is a great pole vaulter. She is a candidate to win the Florida championship next year when she becomes a junior in High School. There are no African American vaulters in her school. When we look at the men’s side, we can see that there practically no African American pole vaulters either, yet they dominate the hurdles.
Twenty nine of the top 50 male 110 meter hurdlers of all time are American Blacks, yet only one of the top 50 pole vaulters, a guy named Lawrence Johnson, belongs to this ethnic group.
What explains such a disparity?
How come Russian women dominate the 20k walking race (having the top 11 and 26 of the top 50) and they almost disappear from the half marathon, having only one athlete in the top 50.
Why do East African (Kenyan, Ethiopian, Tanzanian) women dominate the half marathon (26 of top 50) but in the 20k walking race there are none in the top 100?
Why aren’t Russian women running or East African women capturing medals in walking events?
Why do African Americans dominate football, basketball (over 75% of NBA players are black) and track but barely show up in bowling, gymnastics, table tennis, race walking, volleyball, wrestling, X games, youth soccer, the pole vault, the high jump, the triple jump, punting, place kicking, pitching and catching. (Three percent of MLB pitchers are African American. Right now, I don’t think there is even one black catcher in the Major leagues)
Now look at this: India and Pakistan have been extraordinary achievers in field hockey. At all six Olympics, according to sports writer Steven Sniderman, India won gold medals in field hockey, winning 24 matches without a defeat. After Pakistan and India were split, one country or the other won the gold in five of the next seven Olympics. Yet, these two huge countries, with over 1.3 billion people between them, have won only one other gold medal (shooting 2008) in the entire history of the Olympics.
The only other medal these countries have won in a sport which requires running is tennis, in which Leander Paes won a bronze in 1996; (I was there), long after India’s field hockey dominance had dried up.
How can South Asians so thoroughly dominate one sport that requires speed, stamina, teamwork and strategy, and be so inept at every other sport that recompenses these qualities?
There are so many more examples, too numerous to cover in one single article.
I think the answer to these questions lie in culture, on the willingness to practice a given sport and dedicate the thousands of hours that are needed to succeed in any sport.
The jury is still out, I do hope that someone especially in the sports world, leads the effort to study why these differences in the world of sport. I would love to see the results.