Yesterday marked the 61st anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in major league baseball. It also marked the release of a “report card” on racial diversity in baseball.

Major League Baseball has received its first A-minus for racial diversity in hiring, even as the percentage of black players continues to drop.

The grade comes from Richard Lapchick, who’s the director of the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports. MLB’s grade was B-plus in last year’s report.

Honestly, does anyone believe that teams discriminate on race anymore? Sports teams are so competitive, if it turned out Osama bin Laden could throw a 98 mph fastball, some team would be trying to rehabilitate his image and sign him to a contract.

Of course, progressives never see progress. Get a load of how Lapchick is described on UCF’s website.

The Institute’s founder and director is Dr. Richard Lapchick, a scholar, author and internationally recognized human rights activist and pioneer for racial equality who is acknowledged as an expert on sports issues.

Described as “the racial conscience of sport,” Lapchick also serves as director of the DeVos Sport Business Management Program at the University of Central Florida (UCF) and is president and CEO of the National Consortium for Academics and Sports (NCAS), a group of more than 210 colleges and universities that helps student-athletes complete their college degrees while serving their communities on issues such as diversity, conflict resolution and men’s violence against women.

Oh, puke.