Adam Jones thinks he knows why Major League Baseball players have been absent from the growing chorus of athletes who have publicly spoken out about problems they may see in the United States.

"Baseball is a white man's sport," Jones told USA Today.

"We already have two strikes against us already," Jones added, "so you might as well not kick yourself out of the game. In football, you can't kick them out. You need those players. In baseball, they don't need us."

Baseball has had an issue with the dwindling number of African-Americans playing the game. Only 8 percent of the league classifies as African-American.

"Baseball is numbers. It's 8 percent black. I didn't make that up," Jones later told the Baltimore Sun. "In football, basketball, the numbers are in the 60s and 70s. These aren't made up numbers. It just is what it is. I'm part of the 8 percent."