On the subject of race: The general impression I get is that baseball was on the forefront of racial integration in this country, although I'm not an expert in that area This is essentially true, but it's also extremely misleading. While baseball is the only sport that celebrates its integration yearly (Jackie Robinson's number is worn by players across the league), it is also the sport where race (exclusively in the case of African-American ballplayers) is consistently a matter of concern. Unlike basketball or football, at times characterized by writers as sports "whose existence depends on African-American men," baseball struggles to attract young, urban African-American athletes. The reasoning and rationalizations that defend these discrepancies (9.5% in 2010 vs. 27% in 1975) vary wildly, so I'll leave you to your own decision-making there.

On your other points, the use of race as a platform for unfairness is hilariously and unfairly exaggerated. The majority of fans of most American sports leagues are white This sounds extremely made up. Putting aside how 'fan' is defined, there is no way to verify or deny this statement without troubling generalizations. Furthermore, even in the case of baseball, the generalizations work against you. The MLB has an international fanhood largely linked to the global ties of its athletes. When considering all the fans abroad (South America, Japan, and Korea) combined with the minority fans within the U.S., this statement becomes pretty tough to swallow without any empirical evidence. As far as "Artificially" trying to amplify the perceived success of white athletes (at least in the modern era), I also doubt this, but I cannot respond in terms of the NBA or boxing, as my knowledge of the two sports is limited. I would even question in baseball whether certain white pitchers have been undeserving of their great careers out of the desire to see white superstars. I won't name names, but most baseball fans are familiar with certain white pitchers who don't throw particularly fast and have had incredible careers due to what is deemed their "great control." Without naming names, this doesn't really mean anything. How a player is perceived is a function of about a kagillion variables. "Finesse" pitchers, as they are often called, are pitchers that have accumulated successful careers without the dominance of the fastball (and by extension usually have a comparatively low strikeout rate). Considering career longevity, obviously older pitchers cannot throw as fast, so they are said to rely on "great control." Pedro Martinez is considered one of the greatest power pitchers of all time, but for the last third of his career he could barely throw over 90 mph. He was routinely described by the media as a "finesse" pitcher in the same vein as Greg Maddux (who is considered one of the greatest finesse pitchers of all time despite having more than 3,000 strikeouts). Could the same thing happen to a Dominican born player? I can't think of many black pitchers who've made careers out of "great control" the way certain white pitchers have. We've already established that the number of African-American major leaguers vacillates, and the numbers of hispanic players and East Asian players are on the rise, so this would be a tough historical argument to make. Fergie Jenkins, Bob Gibson, and Satchel Paige, routinely discussed among the greatest pitchers of all time, all had careers that were so long that we can assume they were not characterized as 'power pitchers' in their last few seasons. -- JoshuaHochman - 17 May 2010