Field of Quotas

As the White Sox celebrated their historic championship, all-time home run king Hank Aaron attempted to throw a wet blanket of racial grievance over the festivities. Noting that only 9 percent of Major League Baseball players are African Americans, including none on the National League champion Astros, Aaron suggested that baseball authorities look into the matter.

Aaron is only to be respected for his prodigious achievement eclipsing Babe Ruth’s all-time home run record amid ugly expressions of white racism. But isn’t it time we stopped dragging out this issue?

So what if only 9 percent of Major Leaguers are African American? Isn’t that close to their percentage in the population of America? And Aaron’s quota approach for blacks ignores the fact that there are far more blacks than that in the big leagues. But apparently all those who come from Latin America don’t count. And as for the Astros, if someone could’ve gotten a key hit for them during the Series, isn’t it obvious they wouldn’t have cared whether he was white, black, red, or green?

If we’re going to start imposing race-based quotas in sports (the ultimate meritocracy), then let’s not forget basketball, where most players are black.

About Stan Guthrie

Stan Guthrie is an editor at large for Christianity Today magazine and for the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview. His latest book is God's Story in 66 Verses. He also is author of All that Jesus Asks: How His Questions Can Teach and Transform Us, Missions in the Third Millennium: 21 Key Trends for the 21st Century, and A Concise Guide to Bible Prophecy. He is co-author of The Sacrament of Evangelism. Besides authoring, writing, and editing books, Stan is a literary agent, bringing together good authors, good books, and good publishers. Stan writes the monthly Priorities colum for BreakPoint.org. He has appeared on National Public Radio's €œTell Me More,€ WGN's Milt Rosenberg program, and many Christian shows, including The Eric Metaxas Show and Moody Radio'€™s €œNew Day Florida.€ A licensed minister and an inspirational speaker, he served as moderator for the Christian Book Expo panel discussion, Does the God of Christianity Exist, and What Difference Does It Make?
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