Stephen A. Smith sat on the set of ESPN’s First Take Friday morning and boldly declared he is “underpaid” by his employer. Smith’s assessment of his own salary was part of a much larger discussion dissecting why Major League Baseball struggles to attract Black athletes to the sport. According to Smith, much of the Black population does not trust the country in terms of meritocracy, nor do they trust baseball’s system of needing to get through the minors and six years of service time before receiving the opportunity to earn market value. During this conversation, Smith cited his own salary.

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