Book Summary:
What Happened to Little League Baseball in the Inner City? examines the times in which we live and eras gone by, when inner-city parks in Chicago were filled with kids who were devoted to America’s favorite pastime, baseball. In my book, I look at the various social, cultural, racial, and economic factors that have caused baseball to nearly vanish from inner-city communities. This book takes a close look at such disturbing factors as unemployment, drug use, gang violence, and decay in the Black family structure.
The book also offers positive solutions for the rejuvenation of a sport that has meant so much to so many generations of inner-city children. Why such a passion to save inner-city baseball? I think it is because through the decades, the game has given to so many kids a sense of self-esteem and taught them about cooperation, leadership, and teamwork—qualities that seem to be sadly missing from today’s high profile sports such as basketball, football, and now, soccer.
What Happened to Little League Baseball in the Inner City? takes a close look at the decline of African-American baseball players from all levels of the sport and exposes the lack of baseball recruitment of black players. It also shows how the privatization of little league baseball has turned the game today into a rich-kids-only sport. But there is also good news in the form of a program called the Reviving Baseball in the Inner Cities Program (RBI), a program that has Major League Baseball pair up with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to develop these leagues in impoverished neighborhoods.
I played for Chicago’s South Side Little League for eleven summers (1974–1984) until I graduated from high school. Over the past twenty years, most of those who played for South Side are successful, productive members of society. I strongly believe that South Side helped mold us into adults with a sense of purpose as well as enabled many of us to turn our aggressive and competitive spirit into something positive.
What Happened to Little League Baseball in the Inner City? is available at Amazon.
The book also offers positive solutions for the rejuvenation of a sport that has meant so much to so many generations of inner-city children. Why such a passion to save inner-city baseball? I think it is because through the decades, the game has given to so many kids a sense of self-esteem and taught them about cooperation, leadership, and teamwork—qualities that seem to be sadly missing from today’s high profile sports such as basketball, football, and now, soccer.
What Happened to Little League Baseball in the Inner City? takes a close look at the decline of African-American baseball players from all levels of the sport and exposes the lack of baseball recruitment of black players. It also shows how the privatization of little league baseball has turned the game today into a rich-kids-only sport. But there is also good news in the form of a program called the Reviving Baseball in the Inner Cities Program (RBI), a program that has Major League Baseball pair up with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to develop these leagues in impoverished neighborhoods.
I played for Chicago’s South Side Little League for eleven summers (1974–1984) until I graduated from high school. Over the past twenty years, most of those who played for South Side are successful, productive members of society. I strongly believe that South Side helped mold us into adults with a sense of purpose as well as enabled many of us to turn our aggressive and competitive spirit into something positive.
What Happened to Little League Baseball in the Inner City? is available at Amazon.
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