Emmanuel Burriss Appears in African-American MLB Vid

The Washington Times put together an interesting video based on a disturbing premise -- the declining percentage of African-Americans on Major League Baseball teams.

And Emmanuel Burriss, Giants second baseman and D.C. resident, has an appearance.

As the video notes, African-Americans only comprise 8.5 percent of MLB rosters, as opposed to 17 percent on Opening Day of 1997, "50 years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier."

Burriss saliently notes in the video that one of the reasons for the trend is likely the difficulty in gaining access to baseball games and fields and equipment.

Football, basketball and soccer can all be practiced with simply a ball. (Basketball can even be practiced alone.)

But baseball is inherently more difficult to practice, particularly for children without available financial resources.

"I do believe finances become a problem," Burriss says.

And that's a sad thing. But it's nice to see that Burriss' parents, clearly enamored at the idea of their son playing professional baseball, are trying to give back to the community.

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