Major League Baseball went from having no Black players prior to 1947, to peaking with more than 30 percent representation of African Americans in the mid-1970s. But then it dropped precipitously in the 1980s and the numbers have yet to come close since.
There is little explanation for the dearth of Black players in the MLB, but Ice Cube believes that the Los Angeles Dodgers would benefit from more melanin on their roster.
In fact, The L.A. born and bred O’Shea Jackson, 50, said the Dodgers won’t win a World Series again without mahogany-hued ballplayers. Despite the team’s spectacular regular seasons the past three years — including the best record in the Majors in 2019 — the Dodgers continue to flame out in the playoffs.
The Dodgers were embarrassingly vanquished in the first round of the postseason this year as well.
The Friday and Barbershop film franchise creator, producer and director told TMZ at the Los Angeles International Airport simply “they need to get some black ballplayers.”
To be fair, the Dodgers are well represented in the front office with legend Magic Johnson as a co-owner and Dave Roberts as a manager. But there is a conspicuous lack of Blacks on the roster.
What do you make of Ice Cube’s comments?
