Chris Rock Goes in on Major League Baseball in New TV Segment
Chris Rock is one of several comedians* who will close out episodes of "Real Sports With Bryant Gumble"— a feature HBO has added in celebration of the 20th anniversary season of the show.
He chose Major League Baseball for his April 22 show. He started with nostalgia:
I’m an endangered species: a black baseball fan. When I was growing up, we loved baseball. … Back then almost 20 [percent] of all Major Leaguers were African-American, and I could actually have conversations with other black people about baseball.
He skewered the St. Louis Cardinals:
The team the Giants had to beat to get [to the World Series last year], the St. Louis Cardinals, had no black players. How could you ever be in St. Louis and see no black people? And the crowds were more than 90 percent white – like the Ferguson Police Department.
Then he explained why baseball needs black people, not the other way around:
We don’t need baseball, but baseball needs us. Black America decides what’s hot and what young people get exited about. … Ask Mitt Romney: You lose black America, you lose young America. … Of people who still watch baseball on TV, five out of six are white, and the average age is 53. That’s not an audience — that’s a tea party rally.
View the full segment above.
*Post has been updated for accuracy. Chris Rock is not the only comedian participating in these segments.