Two Fun Facts on Alberto Callaspo

about Latinos in the middle infield positions.  There have been Latino players in the majors since 1868.  Once baseball began to centralize in the early 1900s, it also began to become more exclusive.  Some played in the Negro Leagues if they had dark skin, but there were a few in the majors.  The number of Latinos in baseball in pre-1947 was pretty small. Between 1871 and 1950, only 54 Latino players were in MLB.  

However, those that played tended to have a leaner, smaller body type.  This is potentially due to poorer nutrition that prevented ideal growth (though this is really just a hypothesis).  Regardless, Latinos tended to have a smaller body type.  The few that were in the majors tended to be put at SS and 2B because of this.  Over time, they began to gain this stereotype of scrappy, lithe infielders that played good defense.  I think this stereotype sorta built a feedback loop in that Latinos began to see training for the infield as the best way to make it to the majors.  Thus, they tended to get better at those positions and tended to make it in greater numbers at those positions.  This made the next generation train harder for those positions...and yadda yadda yadda.  

I'm really not sure about African Americans at third.  I don't think we'd find a statistically significant difference in African Americans and others at 1B (I feel that this is the most similar position to 3rd)...and the difference at SS and 2B might be due to the fact that Latino players seem to take those positions.  

Honestly, I have a feeling that the 3rd base issue is nothing more than coincidence.  However, it could also be due to the stereotype of speed that many African Americans have.  Unfortunately for baseball insiders, this stereotype comes from the fact that there are a lot of marathon runners from specific parts of Africa and the descendents of Africans in America, to my knowledge, come from a different part.