MLB has been listening to criticism for years about the decline of African-American participation in the sport but John Smallwood writes a great column about what this World Series could mean for baseball as it tries to turn things around.  From Carl Crawford, to Jimmy Rollins, from BJ Upton and Dvid Price to Ryan Howard, African-American children can tune into this World Series and not only see some faces that look like their own, but can see some very talented ones too.  While only 8.4% of MLB baseball players are African-American, over 20% of the starters in game 1 will be.  Jimmy Rollins is right though, it takes more than just some good players playing in the biggest games of the year.  Kids in African-American communities need to know these guys are playing.  Marketing dollars need to be spent to raise awareness, and thats on MLB and FOX to make that those communities are tuned in.  Hey, it raises their ratings, and since this isn’t the dream ratings match-up that they wanted they should be invested in raising that awareness if simply to raise their ratings.  This could become an ongoing story through the series, and as annoying as those sorts of side stories can be, its an important one. Baseball can do more for communities around the country by inspiring kids than it is currently doing.  And that is what will make it the National Pastime once again.

Tuesday Trivia Winner:

Bromer, from the LMT message board fame, knew that the Mariners all-time wins leader is Jamie Moyer.  He wins 50 free cards from CustomSportsCards.com!