The diversity of the Orioles

I just read an article at the Sun (found here) that David Steele wrote. It was a piece that went with the news that the number of African-American players in the Major Leagues is dwindling, and that there is not an American-born black player on the Orioles 25-man roster (the 40-man has two in Tim Raines, Jr. and Walter Young).

I'm not trying to argue or miss his point or anything. His main qualms seem to be with the fact that Latin-born players can be signed young and cheap without being part of the draft, and that MLB has not done enough in the States to encourage urban youth to take up baseball. I agree with all of that. I think Steele does a great job in the article of getting his point across.

However, while Steele and the report both mention that the Orioles do have plenty of diversity thanks to our collection of Latin and other foreign-born players, one thing really hit me quickly, and I did some quick fact-checking to make sure my thought was correct, which it is.

The Orioles have the league's only starting rotation that does not have a single American-born pitcher. Rodrigo Lopez is Mexican, Daniel Cabrera is Dominican, Erik Bedard is Canadian, Sidney Ponson is Aruban, and Bruce Chen is Panamanian-born and of Chinese descent. Of the 25-man roster, 14 of the players are non-American.

I just found this interesting and kind of cool more than anything, and wanted to at least point out how diverse this team really is, while also giving a pointer to what I found to be an interesting article by Steele.