If a shameless example of anti-Black racism displayed during a Major League Baseball (MLB) game on Sunday was any indication, the sport’s decision-makers may want to revisit its new plan to attract more Black players.

The incident during the game between the Miami Marlins and the Colorado Rockies came in the 9th inning as Lewis Brinson, who is Black, was up at bat at Coors Field in Denver.

As a hush fell over the crowd, one voice rose above to repeatedly shout the N-word.

Watch the video below.

Some fan was screaming “Nigger” as loud as he could at Miami Marlins player Lewis Brinson at Coors Field pic.twitter.com/EAprfMhZbe

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) August 8, 2021

Because only the audio could be heard and there was no video pointing to the person who yelled it, it was not immediately clear if the racist slur was being directed to Brinson. But conventional wisdom suggests that’s exactly what happened. The Rockies agreed with that sentiment and now the team has opened up an investigation into the matter.

ESPN reported that the Rockies said in a statement that such behavior will not be tolerated at Coors Field, but it would appear that is exactly what the fans surrounding the culprit did, since no one has come forward to identify the person responsible for spewing the N-word.

“The Colorado Rockies are disgusted at the racial slur by a fan directed at the Marlins’ Lewis Brinson during the ninth inning of today’s game,” the team said. “Although the subject was not identified prior to the end of the game, the Rockies are still investigating this incident.

The Marlins said that no one from the team, including Brinson, heard the N-word.

However, Brinson appeared to acknowledge the report following the game, when he posted a photo of himself to his Instagram account with a simple message: “Keep going.”

But either way, it’s a real bad look for MLB, which has admitted its past failings in trying to attract Black players to participate in the sport commonly referred to as “America’s favorite pasttimae.”

Ironically, Denver was also the place where MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred recently announced during the leagues’ annual all-star festivities — an all-star game that was controversially relocated from Atlanta after Georgia passed racist election laws targeting Black voters — that it was committing more than $100 million dollars to not only encourage more Black people to play baseball but also to help them eventually make the big leagues.

“We want young people — period — playing the game, particularly young people of color,” Manfred said last month during a press conference at Coors Field.

The move came just about a year after Black MLB players began speaking out about the state of racial inclusiveness in the professional game and lamenting that there were so few Black players.

Around the same time, amid nationwide protests against racism and police brutality, USA Today published a report finding that the percentage of Black MLB players was “still low.”

Taken it its totality, along with the racist incident at Coors Field, it would appear that the MLB has its work cut out for them.

A lack of Black MLB players is hardly new.

A decade ago, NewsOne reported on the plunging percentage of Black players in the MLB.

At the start of the 2011 season, the percentage of Black players dropped to 8.5 %, down 10% from one year earlier and was at its lowest level since 2007.

Fast-forward to 2021 and the New York Times estimated last month that the current percentage of Black MLB players stands at 7.6%.

Take that for what you will.

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