Eight of the best college baseball teams are closing in on one of the best yearly sporting events in college sports–the College World Series. This premier event in Omaha, Nebraska is a great show lasting for 8 or 9 days. Billionaire Warren Buffet loves it and we know how smart he is.

I do, however, have a question. What is it about baseball that there are so few black athletes playing in the college ranks and, therefore, in professional baseball? Is it the money? Not! In one of the latest issues of Sports Illustrated (May 20, 2013), the top 50 money earners in professional sports are listed. Exactly half are baseball players.

Of that number only five are black. Latino athletes are in the majority in the big leagues. White athletes are the majority in college baseball, which is not the case in football and basketball. What’s going on here? I thought baseball is America’s pastime.

In youth sports the very best athlete as a 12 year old can probably excel in whatever sport he should choose. What has them choose what sport to pursue? Is it the nature of the game? Is it the attention athletes get on ESPN? Or, is it just easier to find a hoop in the city than space to hit a baseball?

Kids just want to play and have fun. I played all the sports in high school. Back in the day, we just played them in season. I played basketball and baseball in college. Do we pressure kids to choose their sport too early?

If I had had to choose, it would have been basketball. It was the most fun. However, when I was 12 years old I was 5’0” tall and weighed in at a hefty 105 lbs. Clearly baseball would be the smarter choice where size is not as large a factor.

The problem lies somewhere in this–coaches in all the levels of youth sports are pressuring the athletes for year-round participation in their sport. Kids play too many games. They have no time to experiment, learn about themselves and ultimately make a choice.

I coached basketball for 25 years at all the levels. I saw a lot of 6’4” high school centers that were never going to play that position in college, who could have been great tight ends in football or long ball hitters in baseball. The high school shortstop is the best athlete on the field much of the time. Give him time to mature. He’ll figure it out.