Win or lose, a collection of youngsters from Chicago figure to leave a lasting impression on the Little League World Series.
The Jackie Robinson West team is comprised of all African-American players. When tournament play begins Thursday their league will make its first appearance in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, in 31 years — the latest indicator that baseball is making strides in an effort to lure more young African-Americans back to the game.
The number of African-Americans in the major leagues has dwindled steadily since the mid-1980s when they comprised about 19 percent of rosters; the number stood at 8.13 percent on opening day this year.
No one is ready to proclaim the sport is back in talent-rich inner city neighborhoods because of Jackie Robinson West’s success, however programs such as the Little League Urban Initiative, Major League Baseball’s RBI (Reviving Baseball In Inner Cities) and Urban Youth Academy clearly are making a difference.
Jackie Robinson West, which opens play today against Lynnwood-based Pacific, has created a buzz.
David James, senior director of MLB’s RBI program is very familiar with the team’s history and is delighted to see it back on Little League’s biggest stage.
“All of us at MLB is talking about that team,” said James, a native of Williamsport and a former head of the Little League Urban Initiative. “It’s really good for the game.”
The RBI program has grown over the years and now has a presence in 200 cities with about 230,000 participants.
Jackie Robinson West, which bears the name of the first black man to play in the major leagues, has a storied history. Joseph Haley founded the league that’s grown to include 28 teams. Haley’s son, Bill, runs the program today and it is one of the Urban Initiative success stories.
It is the first all-black team from Chicago to reach the World Series since 1983 and the first Urban Initiative affiliate to earn a berth since Harlem in 2002.
While the Urban Initiative helps provide resources essential to running successful leagues, its director — Demiko Ervin — is reluctant to take credit for Jackie Robinson West’s success, noting that the program has been around since 1971.
“Everybody wants to talk about the Urban Initiative League and how we’ve helped Jackie Robinson West,” Ervin said. “They’ve benefited from the program, but I’ve got to give so much credit to the folks in that league and folks in that community.
“It doesn’t work if you don’t have the coaches and the volunteers that come out, support them and do the things that it takes to run a league,” Ervin added. “They’re one of the better Urban Initiative Leagues in the country.”
Jackie Robinson West is one of nearly 200 Urban Initiative Leagues in about 100 cities across the country, although no records are available on how many young African-Americans are involved because most registration forms don’t request information on nationality or race.
“We don’t keep those kinds of statistics,” Ervin said.
“A lot of people think it has to do with leagues having a predominate number of African-Americans, and that’s not it. It’s more of a need-based program,” Ervin added. “We want to make sure all of our leagues, all communities, all neighborhoods, from the affluent to the disadvantaged have the opportunity to play Little League. That’s what it about.”
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