Black History

Jordan Walker Leads Call for More Black Youth in Baseball

ST. LOUIS AMERICAN — St. Louis Cardinals right fielder Jordan Walker recently won the Home Run Derby final. Following his win, Walker emphasized his desire to be a role model for Black youth and to encourage more Black participation in baseball, noting that many currently play basketball or football.

Published

2 months ago

July 27, 2026

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CJ Abrams and James Wood, Washington Nationals teammates and National League All-Stars, join Jordan Walker in pushing for more Black participation in baseball. Photo courtesy of NBC San Diego

Shortly after Jordan Walker’s 12th and clinching blast of the Home Run Derby final against hometown hero Kyle Schwarber had landed among bitter fans at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, the St. Louis Cardinals right fielder spoke of the importance of his achievement.

“I hope it means a lot to [Black kids],” Walker told reporters. “I want to be a role model for the Black kids, and I want more Black kids in baseball. Hopefully this raises some awareness. I know a lot of them are playing basketball [and] football.

“I want them to know the baseball route is open to them, too. There are a lot of kids that are athletic enough and mentally strong enough — Black kids that can play this game — and I want to see them do it.”

As for Walker, he has become a rarity — a Black star in baseball. They have been few and far between at Busch Stadium since the days of Bob Gibson, Curt Flood and Lou Brock.

Walker, who grew up in suburban Atlanta, said Braves third baseman “Chipper” Jones was his favorite player until Jason Heyward made his debut with the team.

“For Black kids, I want to kind of be a role model for them,” Walker said, “like [Heyward] was for me.”

The 2026 All-Star Game rosters featured several Black players, who shared their hopes on inspiring more Black participation in baseball.

“I think once kids see more people to look up to, the more kids will get back into baseball,” said Washington Nationals outfielder James Wood.

Modest gains

New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge and Minnesota Twins center fielder Byron Buxton missed the game because of injuries, but were voted in as American League All-Star starters. Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams joined teammate Wood on the NL squad. And, of course, there was Walker, who stole the show in the Home Run Derby.

“I feel like there’s been like a little surge in getting more Black players in the game,” Wood said.

“We’ve got four [Black players] on our team right now. Last year at one point, we had five..”

The Cardinals’ opening day roster featured three Black players: outfielder Victor Scott II, shortstop Masyn Winn and Walker. After struggling offensively the first months of the season, Scott was sent down to Triple-A Memphis.

When the St. Louis trio took the field on opening day, Major League Baseball reported that 6.8% of players on rosters, injured lists and the restricted list were Black.

That was up slightly from 6.2% at the start of the 2025 season. It marked a two-year increase from a 6% rate at the beginning of 2024. It was the largest increase in a season since a 0.7% rise from 2017 to 2018.

MLB Commissioner Robert Manfred, who to his credit has ignored criticism of baseball diversity programs, sees progress and hopes for more.

“[Y]ou have to continue to invest, grind it out, do that grassroots work to attract more people to the game and then nurture them in a way that gets them into this elite pipeline,” Manfred said.

Cincinnati Reds pitcher Chase Burns, who was named to the NL All-Star team and just signed a seven-year, $105 million contract extension, said he is perplexed by the low number of Black baseball participants.

“You don’t see a lot of Black athletes in baseball. I don’t know why that is,” Burns said. “I think it’s great for guys like me and [Walker] to strive to get Black athletes into the game of baseball, whether it’s talking about it or doing stuff in the community. I think it’s great he pointed it out.”

As for Walker, he has become a rarity — a Black star in baseball. They have been few and far between at Busch Stadium since the days of Bob Gibson, Curt Flood and Lou Brock.

Hopefully Cardinal Nation will appreciate Walker’s stardom, and the team will reward him with a lucrative contract extension soon.

The post Jordan Walker leads call for more Black youth in baseball appeared first on St. Louis American.

Based on reporting by St. Louis American.

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Oakland Post: Week of September 2 – 8, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of September 2 – 8, 2026

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3 days ago

September 7, 2026

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Black History

Jackie Wright Champions Bay Area Stories, Filmmakers and Cultural Institutions

As an award-winning communications professional, Wright has worked with corporations, nonprofits, government agencies, educational institutions, artists, and community organizations. In 2026, she expanded that work by launching an introductory public relations class for small businesses and nonprofits, offering practical tools for gaining visibility, shaping messages and building productive relationships with the media.

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1 week ago

August 30, 2026

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Jackie Wright of Wright Enterprises. Photo courtesy of Wright Enterprises.

By Carla Thomas

Jackie Wright has spent more than two decades helping people, organizations and communities understand the power of a well-told story.

As founder and president of Wright Enterprises, a San Francisco-based strategic communications and public affairs firm, Wright has built a career spanning journalism, public relations, media relations, crisis communications, community engagement and multimedia storytelling.

Wright’s commitment to storytelling is also deeply personal. She wrote and co-directed the 15-minute documentary, “Love Separated in Life…Love Reunited in Honor,” which chronicles the story of her parents, Specialist Five (S5 Wyley Wright Jr. and Ouida Fay McClendon Wright. Her father, a U.S. Army helicopter crew chief, died in Vietnam in 1964 while serving as an honor guard during a visit by then-Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. Decades later, Wright and her siblings had their father exhumed from a segregated cemetery in Jacksonville, Florida, and their mother moved from her burial place in Georgia so the couple could be reunited at Arlington National Cemetery in 2014.

The family journey later took Wright and her sister to Vietnam, where they discovered the former military compound that had been named in honor of their father and another fallen soldier. The documentary, centered on love, war, family, racial understanding, and remembrance, earned festival recognition at screenings.

“It was quite an honor to learn about my family’s history and share it on film,” said Wright.

That filmmaking experience complements Wright’s longstanding advocacy for independent cinema. She has served as a media partner and brand ambassador for Bay Area film festivals, including the San Francisco Black Film Festival, Oakland International Film Festival, and the Durban International Film Festival in South Africa.

“It’s important to help filmmakers and underrepresented stories reach broader audiences,” said Wright.

Whether promoting a neighborhood organization, championing an independent filmmaker or preserving her own family history, Wright has remained consistent. Through Wright Enterprises, she has turned communications into both a profession and a form of community service, telling stories that might otherwise go unheard.

“Our stories are an integral part of our history, and our history is not only American history, but worldwide,” she said.

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Black History

BOOK REVIEW: Every Inch of a Lady

“Born, bred, toasted, buttered, jellied, and honeyed in Harlem” in 1937, Audrey Smaltz was a force to be reckoned with almost from the time she could walk. Her parents imbued confidence in her; they nurtured her creativity and sent her to charm school, but they never allowed her to create a stir.

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1 week ago

August 30, 2026

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Audrey Smaltz' latest book "Every Inch a Lady" with Alina Mitchell, is a colorful autobiographical story following a young Black model's pursuit to become a fashion designer in New York City during the pre-Civil Rights era.

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

Author: Audrey Smaltz with Alina Mitchell, foreword by Michael Kors, Copyright: c.2026, Publisher: Amistad, SRP: $27.99, Page Count: 256 Pages, Snaps, zippers, buttons, ties.

Toss that garment on, pull it up, wrap it around; you know what you like and how to wear it. The color is perfect for your skin tone, and the fabric enhances your figure. Yep, you always look your best and, as in the new book “Every Inch a Lady” by Audrey Smaltz (with Alina Mitchell), that best is fabulous.

“That,” says Smaltz, “is not what ladies did.”

By the time she was a teenager, Smaltz was modeling for New York City designers. Shortly thereafter, she started working for a married man with whom she had an affair, and whom she loved very much. She broke up with him, attended college, and worked a series of jobs that taught her about fashion and jobs that didn’t seem to fit her. An ill-fated marriage took her to Chicago, where she ultimately landed a position that sent her to work in Ebony magazine’s New York office.

Working at Ebony was a career-changer, in a way. Smaltz traveled the world and learned more about fashion, but she didn’t exactly get along with her boss.

Finally, seizing an opportunity, Smaltz decided to launch her own company, Audrey Smaltz, Inc., a “fashion production business,” but she couldn’t get any designers to take a chance on her. Undaunted, she reorganized, re-branded, hit the streets, and knocked on doors until she finally found one client, which led to many others.

Through it all, her personal life was a whirlwind. She dated “more men than you can shake a book at,” settling down occasionally, briefly. Fashion had always been her first love, but she accidentally found real love, “the love of a woman,” at a leadership course…

There’s an old saying that writers need to add lots of “color” into their stories. Read a little of “Every Inch a Lady,” and you’ll notice immediately that author Audrey Smaltz (with Alina Mitchell) quite literally takes that to heart by mentioning nearly every color of the spectrum here. Hmm.

That oddity aside, Smaltz is a wonderfully lively storyteller, speaking with the energy of a woman much younger to the heart of anyone who loves fashion. That glee extends to collectors of vintage clothing, who will be delighted to read about the industry long ago and the way things worked then. Smaltz says she experienced racism, which is not unusual for pre-Civil Rights America, but doors were surprisingly closed for other reasons that will astound anyone who’s savvy about the fashion industry, even today.

There’s quite a bit of name-dropping in this book, but most of it belongs in the anecdotes, so you likely won’t mind. If you’re a fashionista, too, find “Every Inch a Lady,” and snap it up.