Dodgers star Mookie Betts used his red carpet appearance at the 2022 MLB All-Star game to get a message out about more diversity at the ball park.
Mookie Betts has a huge platform, not just as one of the Dodgers‘ biggest stars, but as a literal All-Star.
The outfielder got to appear in the MLB All-Star game at his home field, Dodgers Stadium. He used the occasion to make something more than a fashion statement.
Betts took the field wearing a black t-shirt with blue lettering reading, “We need more Black People at the Stadium.”
Mookie Betts makes a statement with outfit on All-Star Game red carpet
Since his days in Boston, Betts has been outspoken on matters of racial injustice. This time, he tackled the topic of racial diversity in baseball.
While Jackie Robinson remains one of the most respected names in the sport, baseball hasn’t exactly done a good job of attracting black players or fans in recent decades. The hiring of black coaches certainly hasn’t followed.
The Insitute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports found that just 7.2 percent of players on Opening Day rosters this year were black. That’s a low since the data started being collected in 1991. Back then, 18 percent of players were black.
There are just two black managers in the league, Houston’s Dusty Baker and LA’s Dave Roberts, who is half black and half Japanese.
There is one black person running a franchise as a general manager or president of baseball operations.
Clearly work needs to be done to rebuild the black community within the larger MLB community, whether within organizations or in the broader fanbase. Betts seems to be championing that cause.