As we’re all glued to the TV, watching this year’s World Series unfold, on or off the field, you won't see many people that look very different from the majority white or Latin players.
That's because few African Americans are involved or interested in the sport, but one local group wants to change that.
Chris Rock joked about it last year in an HBO special when he said, “Now if I say to a black person, see the Met game last night? They'll say what the **** is a Met?"
But Dennis Harris, Coach and Director of the National Youth Sports Program at Case Western Reserve University, says it's no laughing matter.
“Baseball is that sport you always talk about that tradition, and somewhere in the African American history we lost that tradition."
Since he can remember, young Frederick Brown, who’s gone through Harris’s program, has wanted to be a professional baseball player.
"Once I started playing T-Ball, I grew a love for the game of baseball," Brown said.
But growing up on Cleveland’s near Eastside, he told me there weren't many others who shared his same passion.
“It really does make [me] feel like I stick out in the crowd."
That's no surprise, as African-Americans in baseball have fallen out of love with the game for decades now.
“We always talk about Jackie Robinson, and after Jackie Robinson, it's like ok, that's it. Baseball is more than just Jackie Robinson... we kind of drop the ball after that," said Harris.
This year there's only 69 African-American players in major league baseball, that's only 8 percent of all players. The Indians only have one. So what's changed?
“Exposure, you have to be exposed to the sport ... the environment, you have to be in an environment that really appreciates the sport of baseball," Harris explained.
Randall Price, Founder of the new program Prybus Innerstar, agreed.
“Dominican kids think about baseball 24 hours a day, here though, there's competition between basketball, football, soccer," Price said.
He was running a school in the Dominican Republic to train rising baseball stars, but now he's bringing his year-round program Prybus Innerstar, targeting young African-American boys in the city.
“It's spreading the love of baseball, but it's also helping kids realize what there inner star, what their talent is that they can dedicate to this world," said Price.
So far, that's what it's done for 18-year-old Frederick Brown.
“Whatever I do, I just have to have the game with me, it's apart of me, it's who I am," Brown expressed.
While parts of the program have already started, it will officially kick off this summer with kids here in Northeast Ohio being able to connect with those in the Dominican Republic.
Price said he's already gotten interest from several major league teams to be a part of the program.
