They're missing in action

Walking through the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City . . .

"It hits you, doesn't it?" said Red Sox consultant Tommy Harper. "What a contrast from then and now. So many black players, and now you look at teams and you wonder, where have they gone?"

And are they coming back soon?

It is a topic dripping in irony. There was such a struggle to integrate baseball, with Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in the 1940s. There were so many superstars from the 1950s through the 1970s -- Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Frank Robinson, Willie McCovey, Ernie Banks -- and very good players like Harper, Vada Pinson, Bobby Bonds, Maury Wills, on and on. Now . . .

"I've heard so many theories, and have a few myself, but I don't have an answer for it," said Harper.

There are many opinions about why only 8 percent of major league players are African-American, compared with 28 percent in the mid-1970s. The Red Sox are one of the most diverse teams in baseball but have only one African-American on the major league roster (Coco Crisp).

The Sox haven't developed an African-American pitcher since Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd in 1984, and the only prominent African-American positional players they've developed since 1975 are Jim Rice, Ellis Burks, and Mo Vaughn.

And they are not alone.

"I've just noticed over the last 15-20 years that baseball isn't being played in the inner city for a lot of different reasons," Boyd said. "One reason is that kids are acting illegitimate. By that, I mean our kids are vulnerable to society and fast money and that's filtering down to the inner city.

"Since drugs have been in the streets -- that's what I mean by fast money -- drugs have destroyed a lot of talented future baseball players. Kids that should have grown up and become major league ballplayers are in the state penitentiary. I know kids like that."

Boyd is proud of being part of a multigenerational baseball family and he still plays at age 45 for a traveling team he's heading up this summer.

"It was the first choice of every kid in the inner city because it was passed down by the generations," said Boyd. "We knew the history of why baseball was important to us.

"Football and basketball were secondary. I could throw a football 70 yards and I was a really good basketball player, but my passion was baseball because it fulfilled me intellectually."

Boyd, along with former Montreal teammates Delino DeShields and Marquis Grissom, is trying to bring baseball back to the inner city. They have plans to build an independent league ballpark in Mississippi, and hope to get people in the communities thinking and enjoying baseball again.

"Before we can get to the kids, we have to get to their parents," Boyd said. "They have to pass it down like my parents did. The Negro leagues, Jackie Robinson, Buck O'Neil. On and on.

"My kids will play baseball. Ken Griffey's kids, Barry Bonds's kids, they'll all play baseball because it's handed down. Because of the challenges of surviving in our society in the past 15 or 20 years, we've skipped a whole generation of people passing baseball down to their kids. We've got to make them realize again how important it is to our history."

Major college programs have few African-Americans on their rosters; there are none playing at Boston College currently. Major League Baseball recognizes the problem and is trying to solve it through grass-roots programs, such as the academy for inner-city kids in Compton, Calif. The Red Sox sponsor an inner-city team in Chicago.

"Even if they play, once they've gotten through high school there's no place to go," Harper said. "Look at the Cape Cod League -- a great league, but it's for college kids. A lot of inner-city kids aren't going to college. There aren't that many scholarships for baseball compared to football or basketball.

"I remember speaking to [former Sox outfielder] Darren Lewis, who started coaching, and I asked him, 'How do you like it?' He said, 'I love it, but Harp, there are no black kids.' "

When Griffey and Bonds leave the game, who will be left? Ryan Howard, Dontrelle Willis, Jimmy Rollins, Vernon Wells, Torii Hunter, Carl Crawford . . . but it keeps getting harder to come up with prominent African-American players.

"At some point, our kids stopped playing baseball in the inner city," said Royals special adviser Frank White. "The baseball fields disappeared."

After watching video of packed houses at Negro league games -- a whole league of African-American players who played because they loved it -- you walk out of the museum thinking how different it is today.

"It's sad," said The Can. "Very sad."

Meeting up with a Met

A few questions for Mets general manager Omar Minaya.

Have to be happy sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals -- and outscoring them, 20-2 -- out of the gate.
OM: "When you beat the world champions right off the bat, it definitely gives you a lift, but you also realize it's too early to print the World Series tickets."

How difficult was it to lose out on Daisuke Matsuzaka as the runner-up in the bidding?

OM: "We recognized him to be -- much like the Red Sox -- a top pitching talent. We wanted him to be a Met in the worst way. We thought we made an excellent bid [$39 million] but the Red Sox did a better job of identifying the correct bid. I wish we had bid more, but you can't go back to that. You have to move on."

A lot has been said about going into the season with youngsters like John Maine and Mike Pelfrey because of the injury to Pedro Martínez. Can you survive it and what do you foresee for the young pitchers?
OM: "You have to believe in your system and you have to give these kids a chance to develop into major league pitchers. We feel good about that because we feel they'll succeed because of the talent we see in them. I'm really excited about what we have at Triple A with Jason Vargas and Adam Bostick, and we have Marcos Carvajal at Double A who could make the jump if we need him."

You also have Chan Ho Park. OM: "We're stretching him out at Triple A. We thought we could use him in the bullpen, but he requested to start so we're trying to accommodate him."

Do you worry about the Atlanta Braves reclaiming their divisional crown?
OM: "There's no doubt they're better. John Schuerholz did a great job this offseason addressing his needs in the bullpen. So, most definitely, they're a team that's going to compete very hard with us."

Royals' Greinke has a friend in high place with Red Sox

Nobody was more proud of Zack Greinke's start against Daisuke Matsuzaka last Thursday than Allard Baird. The former Royals general manager, now top adviser to Theo Epstein, drafted and signed Greinke as the Royals' No. 1 pick (sixth overall) in 2002 out of Apopka (Fla.) High School.

Greinke was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder after he left spring training last season to seek psychological counseling. He was coming off a 5-17 season in which he had a 5.80 ERA after a decent start to his career in '04 (8-11, 3.97 ERA).

Even after Baird was fired by the Royals in May of last season, he kept track of Greinke after joining the Red Sox.

While many aspects of Greinke's condition remain confidential, Baird isn't surprised that the young righthander went out and battled Matsuzaka inning for inning (seven innings, one earned run).

"He has a great touch and feel for pitching," Baird said. "He's got a knowledge of pitching far beyond his years. That's why it was hard for all of us to see what he went through.

"There are bigger and stronger pitchers out there, but he's such a good athlete that you forget sometimes what a quality pitcher he is. He's a guy who can throw 88-92, and if he has to go get 94-95, he can do that. It's just great to see him back on that mound."

Once doctors found the right medications and dosages, Greinke was able to pitch at Double A Wichita last season, going 8-3 and appearing in two playoff games. He returned to Kansas City in September and made one appearance.

Greinke drew rave reviews from scouts in spring training, striking out 27 batters in 24 innings.

Baird points out that Greinke is still 23 years old and has his whole career ahead of him.

"Like I said, we were always blown away by his knowledge of pitching," said Baird. "He's just not a kid who goes out there and throws. He knows how to set up hitters. He's a real pitcher.

"I wish him nothing but the best because he's earned my respect. I think he's going to open a lot of eyes out there this season."

Touching the bases
Apropos of nothing: 1. Former umpire Steve Palermo, on Terry Francona's $20,000 bet with Larry Lucchino that he'll stop chewing tobacco: "Good deal for Tito. The 20 grand for winning and the 10 grand he saves on tobacco. That's 30 grand." 2. Wouldn't it be a nice gesture if the Sox played the Japanese national anthem before Daisuke Matsuzaka's starts? 3. The Dodgers will use base-stealing great Maury Wills during the season for intermittent base-running sessions with players. The Dodgers still talk about Julio Lugo's head-scratching attempt to steal home last year and feel a refresher for their players is the way to go. 4. I keep seeing Todd Helton hit doubles off the Green Monster. 5. Wonder if Barry Bonds could time his record-breaking 22d homer around the All-Star Game, which just happens to be in San Francisco.

Two interpretations of leadership
What does Grady Little love about veteran Luis Gonzalez? "He's a leader in two languages," Little said. "He's in our clubhouse and he loves to talk to everyone in Spanish and English. It's been quite a treat for everyone to have someone who everyone looks up to. I think that's going to be a big asset for our club."

On opposite sides
A couple of scouts were discussing Devil Rays rookie outfielder Elijah Dukes, who has had multiple suspensions and arrests. "Wouldn't want him on my team," said an American League scout. "Everywhere he's been, he's been unable to interact with his teammates without an incident." Shot back the other, "Very misunderstood. He's actually a very nice kid if you find the time to talk to him. I know he's had problems, but he's someone I think you can turn around in a positive way." Dukes homered in his first major league at-bat -- against the Yankees on Opening Day -- becoming the 99th player in major league history to do that.

Lugo was shocked by Tampa Bay's demotion of his former double-play partner, Jorge Cantu, to Triple A. "I've got to believe that's only temporary," said Lugo. "He's a good player and someone they really rely on with that team. I don't know the story over there, but it's a tough place to play because it's hard to lose that much. I like those guys." Cantu hit 28 homers and 40 doubles just two years ago. He's still 25.

There's so much talk about whether Alex Rodriguez will be an Angel next season, but the guy ownership really likes, according to a front-office source, is Andruw Jones. Where would they play him, with Gary Matthews Jr. in center? One of them could replace Garret Anderson in left.

It seems to me Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is emerging from the pack of some pretty big names to be the next Cubs owner. We're also hearing about groups that include Jerry Colangelo, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, Bill Murray, and George Will. Would Cuban scare commissioner Bud Selig? One National League owner told me, "He'd bring some much-needed personality to the game. He's not a traditionalist, so he'd do and say some wacky things. Whether we want that in baseball is something Bud and the owners will have to wrestle with. I think it would great for the fans of Chicago."

One scout's final assessment of Hideki Okajima before he signed with the Red Sox: "Acquiring Okajima as a lefty specialist would not be a successful acquisition. This is due to the fact that his pitches are below major league average and he's not successful against lefthanded hitters. His release point is high and his curve is loopy."

Just after the Sox signed Daisuke Matsuzaka, ticket broker John Higgins bought the website Matsuzakatickets.com. A pretty good entrepreneurial move, I'd say. "At one point, I got a call from a Japanese tour company who wanted to make an offer to buy the site," said Higgins. "I thought, OK, I'll call them back and I'll be retired the next day. But they only offered a thousand dollars." Oh, well. But Higgins, whose business is at 470 Commonwealth Ave., decided to start buying up tickets for what he projected to be Matsuzaka's first Fenway start, April 11. Of course, a lot could have gone wrong -- rainouts, injuries, etc. But Higgins, who bought up 500 tickets, had sold 75-80 of them by Friday (the day after Matsuzaka pitched in Kansas City) and appears to be in good shape. "Back in the day when Pedro [Martínez] pitched, we always had a little spike in the days leading up to his pitching," said Higgins. "I think it's going to be like that with Dice-K."

The Sox are raving about the leaps and bounds catcher George Kottaras has made defensively. Kottaras, who is playing for Pawtucket, spent a lot of spring training working with bullpen coach Gary Tuck, considered one of the top catching teachers in baseball. Given his nice swing, Kottaras might soon be only a phone call away from Boston.

"The 1967 Impossible Dream Red Sox: Pandemonium on the Field" is the most thorough compilation of stories, photos, and tidbits about my favorite Red Sox team that you'll ever see anywhere. Bill Nowlin and Dan Desrochers do an unbelievable job remembering the season.

Nick Cafardo's e-mail address is cafardo@globe.com