Baseball, more than any other sport, is a numbers game. Too much so, in my view. But it is what it is. Managers make in-game decisions based on the numbers. GMs make personnel decisions based on the numbers. Owners, the numbers. Boring.

On Wednesday, I found one particular number - 10.2  - intriguing. That was the percentage of African-American players on major league rosters last season, according to Richard Lapchick, director of the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports and the man who has made his life's work being the watchdog for racial progress in sports.

Ten-point-two percent is an uptick from 8.2 percent, which was the number of African-American players on MLB rosters in 2007. It was also an all-time low for the sport that boasts Jackie Robinson, the second most significant agent of racial change in America, behind Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King.

Sometimes I wonder why it matters. Why, in an age when black kids are no longer "denied" the opportunity to play baseball, an age when we have an African-American president for goodness sakes, why does it matter what percentage of players in any sport is black, brown, yellow or white?

Blacks stopped playing baseball for myriad reasons. Better access to football fields and basketball courts. Bigger stars in football and basketball. Bigger paychecks, sooner. And no minor leagues.

But there was something troubling about the diminishing number of blacks in baseball, something that made you wonder whether they would all but disappear.

That would have been sad, and bad for baseball. Without the tacit "endorsement" of urban America, it would have dissolved into a near-fringe sport. There, but not. There, but who cares?

So the uptick is good. But I'm not quite ready to celebrate, because an uptick is not yet a trend. It's probably more than a coincidence but that's about all you can say about it now.

Even Rachel Robinson, Jackie's widow  - baseball's true First Lady, really - knows that.  "I feel encouraged," he said of the news on the day all players wore another significant number -  42 - to commemorate her husband on the 62nd anniversary of his barrier-bashing debut. "It's not a huge leap, but it's a step forward."

And it's no accident. I've been a consistent critic of Bud Selig for his policies (i.e. the All-Star game deciding home-field advantage for the Word Series!), inaction (steroids) and antics (Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron). But I give him props for supporting the numerous initiatives that I believe at least laid the groundwork for the "uptick."

Initiatives that were largely conceived and championed by Jimmie Lee Solomon, MLB's Executive Vice President for Operations. They are:

* The Urban Youth Academies in Compton, Miami and Houston.

* The annual Civil Rights Game.

* The Urban Invitational, highlighting Black College teams.

* The Negro League Draft.

* The new Breakthrough Series, showcasing talented high-school junior and seniors for urban communities nationwide. 

* Little League returning to Compton.

Of course none of these events can take direct credit for the uptick. There's no way any of them has produced enough major league talent to halt the needle and push it in another direction.

But they certainly have not hurt, nor have the efforts of many of the games black players - like CC Sabathia and Curtis Granderson - who regularly speak out for more black youngsters to consider baseball, who support personal programs and who've been great stars in the game. They are role models for what can be accomplished at the highest level.

So I'll take the number, for now. But whether the 10.2 percent is indicative of a trend or is merely an aberration, I'll wait.

photo by Reuters