But a charismatic African American superstar could accelerate the process.
"Derek Jeter is probably our most marketable African American player, but he's not as out there," Solomon said. "We've got to figure out what we're going to do in light of that to try and make baseball cool to young people."
The Phillies could be central to baseball's efforts. With Howard, last year's National League MVP, and Jimmy Rollins and Tom Gordon, the Phillies may have as many marquee African American players on their roster as any team in the league.
To that end, Solomon said, baseball is also in discussions with Black Entertainment Television to try to develop a reality show featuring Rollins.
"We're thinking about it," he said. "We're pushing for it. The tremendous wit and humor that Jimmy Rollins has, that Ryan Howard has, that would be great, especially if we could get it into a marketplace that's viewed by African Americans like BET."
Despite the declining numbers, Willis, for one, is optimistic. He is convinced that a new generation of African American players - his generation - can start a renaissance of blacks playing the game.
"I think if I continue to play the game how I know I can play, it'll turn around," he said. "You have C.C. Sabathia, [Minnesota's] Torii Hunter - not only Barry Bonds. There's great players and there's great young players - [Tampa Bay's] Delmon Young, Elijah Dukes, the guys like that that are coming. Hopefully, we promote ourselves well enough to be successful."
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Staff writer Claire Smith contributed to this article.
Contact staff writer David Aldridge at 215-854-5516 or daldridge@phillynews.com.
