Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI)

History of RBI

Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) is entering its 19th season in 2007. Since its inception in 1989, RBI has grown from a local program for boys in South Central Los Angeles to an international campaign encompassing more than 200 cities and as many as 120,000 male and female participants a year.

John Young, a former Major League Baseball player and scout, developed the concept of RBI to provide disadvantaged youth an opportunity to learn and enjoy the game of baseball. Young grew up in South Central LA at a time when the area developed many professional baseball players. However, by the late 1970s, Young -- who was working as a Major League scout -- noted a significant decrease in the number of skilled athletes emerging from his childhood area.

After visiting inner-city schools and talking to members of the Los Angeles Department of Parks and Recreation, Young discovered that the majority of kids quit playing baseball between the ages of 13 and 16. The drop off was due to many factors, including a lack of organization, funding and community support for youth baseball, as well as an overall deterioration of the social climate in many underserved areas. More often than not, kids quit after becoming discouraged by poorly organized baseball programs and enticed by the existence of other activities, including street gangs.

Young decided that the best way to revive baseball in South Central LA would be to introduce a comprehensive youth baseball program for 13- to 16-year-olds. This program would not only encourage participation in baseball and expand the pool of talented prospects, but, more importantly, it would provide young people with a positive, team-oriented activity that would keep them off the streets while challenging them mentally and physically.

Major League Baseball endorsed the RBI concept and provided financial support for the program, as did the Los Angeles Dodgers and the City of Los Angeles. While the youth of Los Angeles were initially a little skeptical -- only 11 showed up for the first tryout -- they gradually began to embrace RBI, and 180 kids participated the first season.

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For one fan, Dodger Stadium is where dreams come blue

Los Angeles Times

Bill Plaschke, July 4, 2007

Maurice Gardner, who has worshipped the Dodgers from afar for his 46 years, finally makes the trip to L.A. and the stadium from his Virginia home, knowing his time might be short as his cancer progresses

He walks onto the concourse, stares down at a Dodger Stadium field dotted with current players and past legends, grabs his camera and immediately begins snapping photos.

Photos of the grass.

"Look at how green it is," he says.

Photos of the crooked roof above the outfield pavilions. "Just like on TV," he says.

Photos of the streaking baseball plastered on the concrete high above home plate. "I've dreamed of seeing that baseball," he says. We take it for granted, don't we?

We've lived next to Dodger Stadium for so long, we ignore its beauty, shrug at its charm and lose sight of that funky streaking baseball. We are so worried about the lousy concession lines, inconsistent parking and cramped concourses, we forget that our aging neighbor may still be the most beautiful sporting spot on Earth.

Meet a man who does not, who will not, who cannot. He is Maurice Gardner, a 46-year-old furniture factory worker who has spent his life loving the Dodgers without ever setting foot in Los Angeles, an affair of the couch and the remote and the heart.

From 2,400 miles away, in the southern Virginia town of Martinsville, he has cheered for them even though he has no Dodgers ticket stubs, no programs, no autographs, no evidence of any human connection.

A souvenir Dodgers clock in his bedroom is the first thing he sees each morning. A flicker on his car dashboard — Vin Scully calling the ninth inning on satellite radio — is often the last thing he sees at night.

"I may not love the Dodgers any more than Tommy Lasorda," Gardner says in his syrupy Southern twang, "but I guarantee I love them just as good."

Their traditions taught to him by an older brother, the Dodgers have long dominated his life, more powerful than anything other than family and church, until last year, when he finally met something stronger. It was cancer.

It invaded his colon and rectum, disappeared, then returned to his liver and lungs. Now doctors say the cancer cannot be stopped, and while Maurice Gardner is going to keep fighting it, he knew there was something he must do before he dies.

He flew to Los Angeles this week to do it. The lifelong Dodgers fan came here Tuesday to see, for the first time, Dodger Stadium. "Seen it so much in my mind," he says. "Wondered if it was actually real."

His church paid for the plane tickets. His wife, Susan, arranged for the downtown hotel. They didn't rent a car because they were too afraid to drive. Susan e-mailed the Dodgers asking for the location of the best seats. When an e-mail exchange revealed his condition, the Dodgers immediately offered free tickets and a stadium tour.

On Monday, the night before the tour, Maurice Gardner rode every elevator in the downtown hotel looking for a view of the stadium lights. When he finally realized they could be seen from his room, he curled up next to the window and stayed awake late, until they were finally dimmed.

"Having waited all my life to be that close to Dodger Stadium, I wasn't going to sleep until it did," he says.We take it for granted, don't we? We find it hard to believe that our bewitching, befuddling Dodgers were once a national institution, their philosophies admired, their players respected, their stadium treasured. We forget that these Dodgers are still loved by people all over the country, people who remember Jackie, people who cheered for Maury and Sandy and Bulldog and Tommy.

We never think about folks like Maurice Gardner. From the moment his brother told him about the charm of the 1960s champions, he became hooked. Growing up in a town with no nearby major league baseball, it became his team. "They were professional, they played hard, they looked good in that blue," he says. "They took hold of me, and never let go."

He watches any Dodgers game that appears on his basic cable TV package. He disappears into his Chevy Lumina at night to listen to Dodgers games on the radio. A couple of years ago, he drove to Atlanta for his one and only Dodgers game. He hasn't been able to afford to attend one since."Now, it was time," says Susan. "Money didn't matter. It was time."

He shows for Tuesday's pregame tour in a weathered 8-year-old Dodgers cap a simple blue Dodgers T-shirt and blue-jean shorts. His wife shows up with a cast on her foot after breaking her ankle while boarding a Hollywood tour bus Monday.

As team historian Mark Langill gently leads them around the stadium, they take photos of hallways, seats, doors and even took photos of photos."What is that smell? Is that....?" says Susan, sniffing the air."Yep, that's Dodger dogs, and I'm getting you one," says Maurice with his eyes wide. Maurice meets old heroes Lasorda and Maury Wills, and new hero Russell Martin, and late-night companion Vin Scully.

The Dodgers of his dreams show up at his side, one by one, generous with their time, pretending not to notice that behind him, his wife is weeping.

Batting practice ends, but Maurice Gardner stays, grinding his tennis shoes into the soft grass behind home plate, staring at the hilly view that has been unchanged for more than four decades, standing in the shadow of that silly streaking baseball, shaking his head.

"In my mind, I've been here so many times before," he says. "In my mind, I'll be here forever."

As he so graciously reminds us, he will not be alone.

Los Angeles Times
Bill Plaschke, July 4, 2007

The Glory Days: New York Baseball 1947-1957

The Glory Days: New York Baseball 1947-1957
Postcard of Ebbets Field, c. 1955

Courtesy of Jerry Stern

The Glory Days: New York Baseball 1947-1957
Jun 27 through Dec 31
Musuem of the City 0f New York

The decade between 1947 and 1957 was the golden age of baseball in New York City. With three major league teams—the Yankees, the Brooklyn Dodgers, and the New York Giants—at least one of whom played in the World Series every year except 1948; two National League teams in an intense rivalry each season; and seven landmark subway series, New York was the undisputed baseball capital of the nation. But more than that, New Yorkers lived and experienced baseball in their town in a way never to be repeated again.

The Glory Days: New York Baseball, 1947-1957 explores how and why New York City came to dominate the sport, how this changed by 1957, and how the events of these eleven seasons shaped today’s game. In addition, the exhibition uses baseball as a lens through which city life in the post-war years is examined, and contextualizes baseball’s dominance in the history of the city. Great moments and great players, the passion of New York’s fans, and famous, vanished ballparks are all explored through the greatest assemblage of baseball memorabilia ever exhibited—including photographs, film footage, ephemera, uniforms, sports equipment, trophies, and a broad array of treasured baseball collectibles.

Click here for the Musuem of New York website

Vince Coleman

Courtesy of BaseballLibrary.com

Coleman was the prototypical Cardinal of the mid-1980s, a young star who could hit balls in the gap, swipe bases, and score plenty of times. After shattering the rookie record for stolen bases in a season in 1985, the outfielder went on to lead the league in thefts six straight seasons. However, while his blazing speed stayed with him throughout most of his career, his hot-headedness and bad judgment off the field led him through a series of blemishes on his promising career.

Coleman turned heads in 1983 in the South Atlantic League, when he won the stolen base title by swiping 145 bags despite missing a month with a broken hand. His 145 bases, which barely beat out Donnell Nixon's 144 that same season, would set the mark for professional baseball. Two years later, the St. Louis Cardinals jettisoned Lonnie Smith to make way for the young speedster rising through their system. Coleman held the job with ease and poise, notching 110 stolen bases, shattering the rookie record held by Juan Samuel just a year before. A unanimous choice for the 1985 National League Rookie of the Year Award, Coleman finished the season with 107 runs scored and 170 hits.

However, as his Cardinals advanced through postseason, tragedy struck when Coleman began stretching during pregame warm-ups in Busch Stadium. The automated tarpaulin began rolling out on the field and trapped Vince's leg for about thirty seconds before he was wrenched free. He was taken out on a stretcher and missed the rest of the NLCS and the World Series.

Coleman went on to become the first player in history to steal 100 bases in each of his first three major league seasons. In 1989 he set a record by stealing 50 consecutive bases without being caught, besting Davey Lopes' 14-year-old mark by 12. The outfielder boasted that he considered third base easier to steal than second, and in 1987 stole second and third in the same inning 13 times. Though he was a demon when on base, Coleman often had trouble reaching first; he averaged 105 strikeouts per season with St. Louis, and recorded an on-base percentage over .320 just twice in his six seasons with them.

After his contract with St. Louis expired following the 1990 season, Coleman signed with the New York Mets that December, looking to ply his wares in the Big Apple. However, altercations with management and injuries to his ribs and hamstrings kept him off the field for much of his tenure in New York. Along with hitting the disabled list five times in 1991 and '92, Coleman also locked horns with coach Mike Cubbage and manager Jeff Torborg. The latter argument, which happened on the field, got the outfielder suspended for two games.

Coleman reached a personal low in 1993. Three months after injuring Dwight Gooden's arm by recklessly swinging a golf club in the clubhouse, he was charged with endangerment when he tossed a firecracker at -- and harmed -- two young boys and a woman in the stadium's parking lot. The outfielder was "given" the rest of the year off by the team to deal with legal issues, but it was clear that his stint in New York was over.

Indeed, Coleman was traded to the Kansas City Royals in January 1994 for Kevin McReynolds. But though he played in the most games (104) and stole the most bases (50) since his days with the Cardinals, his career was on the downslide. After the strike, Coleman re-signed with the Royals, but was traded to the Seattle Mariners halfway through the season. After hopping between the Reds', Angels', and Tigers' organizations, Coleman called it quits in 1997. (AG/FO)

Field Is Paved, Gloves Are Borrowed, Spirit Is Real

By TRYMAINE LEE

From nytimes.com

Here is a tattered patch of asphalt in the heart of a West Harlem housing project. It is caged in and a world apart, in the shadows of the burnt-orange high-rises. The bases are whatever the players can find: worn-out gloves, T-shirts, their imaginations. The outfield is a basketball court; baseballs take funny bounces on this hard surface.

But each day after school, a social studies teacher leads a crew of middle school boys to this hardened field of play with baseballs, bats and borrowed gloves. They are a brand new team in a new middle school baseball league that is as much a social experiment as it is boys at play.

For many of the players on this team from Intermediate School 286, the Renaissance Military and Leadership Academy, baseball is a respite from the pressures, social and emotional, that they battle daily. The school does not have a band or a debate team or much beyond its studies. But here, they can be all-stars, they can be somebodies.

And this fenced-in patch of asphalt in the Manhattanville housing projects, caged in and a world apart, becomes a baseball diamond. It is transformed just as countless other cracked lots and hot forlorn expanses of concrete around New York City are transformed each summer — into fields for competition, for sports, for sweating and playing and sometimes even winning on the longest days of the year.

Off the field, some of the players from I.S. 286 struggle with behavioral issues, school attendance and unstable home lives. They do what they can to avoid the gangs, and shrug off being robbed and jumped. They want to be ballplayers.

“I always wanted to play, but my father said I wasn’t any good,” said Jefry Puntiel, 14, who is shorter than most of the other players, more bookish than brawny. “So this is my first year. And it’s been a lot of fun.”

The team does not cut players based on talent, only on the basis of behavior and grades. The team does not have heavy financing, and for some, cash at home is scarce, so not every player can afford the $30 uniform. Instead, slacks and T-shirts or sweat pants replace the white-bodied, blue-sleeved shirts and gray baseball pants worn by the rest of the team.

They also have other obstacles to overcome.

Click here to read the entire article from the NY Times.