MLB’s percentage of African-American players still at all-time low

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Major League Baseball teams has maintained its racial and gender hiring practices in the last year, while the percentage of African-American players equaled a study's all-time low set in the 2007 season...

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ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Major League Baseball teams has maintained its racial and gender hiring practices in the last year, while the percentage of African-American players equaled a study’s all-time low set in the 2007 season.

That’s according to the annual report by Richard Lapchick’s Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports at the University of Central Florida. It gave MLB an A grade in racial hiring and C-plus in gender hiring.

The baseball rosters on opening day featured 8.2 percent of players who identified as African-American, equaling the study’s all-time low for the second time since it began in 1988. It’s a decline from 8.3 percent in 2013 and 8.9 percent in 2012.

In April 2013, MLB instituted a task force to consider ways to increase diversity in the game, especially among African-American players.

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