I am honored to announce that my submission to Photo Lucida’s Critical Mass 2023 has been chosen to be a Finalist. This is the third time I have been a Critical Mass Finalist. I was also a Finalist in 2014 & 2016 with law enforcement portfolios. Critical Mass is one of the most prestigious international photography calls for submission there is. It attracts thousands of entries each year from around the world and the jurors for Critical Mass are some of the most renowned photography professionals in the world. 200 photographers are chosen as Finalists and now a panel of 150 jurors will select the 50 Winners.
I also want to congratulate Denise Laurinaitis who is another finalist this year. Denise and I have exhibited together twice this year. First in May at the Atlanta Photography Group’s Portfolio 2023 Exhibition and opening next month in The Decisive Moment juried exhibition at the Photo Place Gallery in Middlebury, Vermont. Denise is a very good emerging artist, and I am always honored to have my photographs exhibited with her work.
This was the first year I submitted images from my Cactus League Portfolio which documents baseball’s Spring Training in Arizona each March. I have been photographing the Cactus League for over 40 years now. With my submission, I selected images which showcase the decline of the number of African American athletes playing professional baseball in recent years as many of those athletes now concentrate on Football or Basketball. Below are the rest of the images in the submission and my statement:
“Black in Baseball" William Karl Valentine
This submission is a selection of images from my Cactus League Baseball portfolio to showcase player demographics changes since I began documenting the sport forty years ago.
African American players only accounted for 6.1% of Major League Baseball’s 2023 opening day rosters. Of the 945 players only 58 were Black. The last time the percentage was this low was in 1955 the year before Jackie Robinson retired. Five teams had no black players and 9 teams only had one player who was black. 29% of Chicago’s 2.75 million residents are black, the city has two baseball teams, and only two black players.
Diversity though is up in baseball, with 269 International players on opening day rosters. The sad reality is fewer African American athletes are choosing to play baseball when it comes time to select a focus sport in high school, they tend to pursue football and basketball instead of baseball. Popularity, visibility, marketing, and related attire are suspected factors. The path to the NFL and NBA may also be easier with many players turning professional after only a year in college. The prohibited costs of youth travel baseball may also be impacting the numbers of black players.
Many of baseball’s greatest players have been Black, it is sad to see the decline in numbers today. Thankfully baseball is working on this by investing in programs to bring these athletes back. If baseball is to continue as America’s National Pastime it needs more Black players back in the game.
