At the All-Star Game, a Dimmer Stage for Black Players

Dave Parker and Al Oliver recall a time when the Midsummer Classic was a celebration of the game’s many African American stars. At this year’s game, the National League’s side will have just one.

With his bat, his glove and his flair, Dave Parker put himself in the pantheon of All-Star Game performers. He won the first Home Run Derby, in 1985 in Minnesota, six years after his throwing arm earned him the All-Star most valuable player award in Seattle. That was in 1979, when his Pittsburgh Pirates won the World Series. “We took on the role of being the Black people’s team,” Parker, 70, said by phone this week. “We had 12 different combinations of uniforms, we had flamboyant players. If we hit a ball and it got past the first baseman, you’d better be on defense because somebody’s going to be taking second base.” The 1979 Pirates had 10 Black players on their World Series roster, even more than the National League All-Star team included that season. That was near the height of African American participation in the majors, which peaked at 19 percent in 1986. On opening day 2021, according to Major League Baseball, that figure had dipped to 7.6 percent.