• Advertise
  • Donate
  • Subscribe
    • Become a print subscriber
    • Sign up for e-Newsletter
    • e-Editions
Saturday, September 30, 2023
No Result
View All Result
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
  • News & Features
    • National
    • Local
    • Special Editions
      • MLK Legacy
      • Black History Month
      • The MSR Celebrates Women’s History Month
  • All Sections
    • Opinion
      • Mellaneous by Mel Reeves
      • Word on the Street
      • Reaching Out From Within
    • Health + Wellness
      • Women’s Wellness
      • Parenting Today
      • Minnesota Cancer Alliance Breast Cancer Gaps Project
    • Sports
      • Timberwolves/NBA
      • Lynx/WNBA
        • 20 in 20
      • Twins/MLB
      • MN Wild/NHL
      • Vikings/NFL
    • Business
      • Small Business Month Celebration
      • Black Business Spotlight
      • Finances FYI
    • Arts + Culture
    • Photo Galleries
      • Photo of the Week
    • MSR Forefront Digital Roundtable Series
      • MSR Forefront Highlights
    • Go Green
    • Education
    • Bulletin
    • Jobs & Notices
      • Legals
      • Announcements
  • Events
    • Submit an event!
  • Obits
  • Sister Spokesman
  • e-Editions
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
  • News & Features
    • National
    • Local
    • Special Editions
      • MLK Legacy
      • Black History Month
      • The MSR Celebrates Women’s History Month
  • All Sections
    • Opinion
      • Mellaneous by Mel Reeves
      • Word on the Street
      • Reaching Out From Within
    • Health + Wellness
      • Women’s Wellness
      • Parenting Today
      • Minnesota Cancer Alliance Breast Cancer Gaps Project
    • Sports
      • Timberwolves/NBA
      • Lynx/WNBA
        • 20 in 20
      • Twins/MLB
      • MN Wild/NHL
      • Vikings/NFL
    • Business
      • Small Business Month Celebration
      • Black Business Spotlight
      • Finances FYI
    • Arts + Culture
    • Photo Galleries
      • Photo of the Week
    • MSR Forefront Digital Roundtable Series
      • MSR Forefront Highlights
    • Go Green
    • Education
    • Bulletin
    • Jobs & Notices
      • Legals
      • Announcements
  • Events
    • Submit an event!
  • Obits
  • Sister Spokesman
  • e-Editions
No Result
View All Result
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
No Result
View All Result

Twins visit the hood

by Charles Hallman
June 1, 2016
6
SHARES
117
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on LinkedIn

AnotherViewsquareMajor League Baseball’s Reviving Baseball in the Inner Cities (RBI) youth baseball and softball program operates in all 30 MLB franchise cities. This season the Minnesota Twins, through its Community Fund, is handing out free baseball gloves to all participants ages eight and under in Minneapolis and St. Paul. An estimated 5,000 youth in the Twin Cities play on RBI teams.

As part of the Twins’ Play Ball Weekend, Twins players Miguel Sano and Darin Mastroianni handed out gloves May 22 at North Commons Park in North Minneapolis after their scheduled contest (they lost to Toronto earlier that day). They played catch with the youngsters prior to handing out gloves and signing autographs.

“It’s good to give back to the kids,” Sano told the MSR. He marveled at the park’s neatly laid out artificial turf baseball diamond, complete with outfield fences, scoreboard and dugouts. “We don’t have a field like that” back in his native Dominican Republic, he told us. We admitted to him that the North Commons ballfield is the exception; such manicured fields are usually found in more affluent areas.

Miguel Sano signs autographs at North Commons.
Miguel Sano signs autographs at North Commons. (Charles Hallman/MSR News)

 

- ADVERTISEMENT -

We don’t know if Sano was aware that someone got shot on the corner just a couple of blocks away from the field he was so impressed with. The neighborhood of late has been a shooting gallery. Police cars were visible that Sunday evening circling the area — we were unsure whether they were there to protect the visiting baseball players and Twins staffers or the resident youth.

Still, it was peaceful as the two Twins were in the ‘hood.

“This is pretty nice and awesome for these kids,” noted Rick Batsell, whose nine-year-old son Emmanuel received his free glove. The younger Batsell, using his old glove, played catch with Sano and Mastroianni beforehand.

“There’s always a lot of kids at this age playing [baseball],” said Frank White, a Twins RBI official. I asked whether any of these same kids who got new gloves, especially those who were Black, would go to Twins game to see players who look like them. At present Sano is the team’s only player of color.

And more importantly, will these Black kids stick with baseball, or will they eventually treat the sport like an old worn-out glove and move to a new one?

- ADVERTISEMENT -

“We always have the younger kids play in Minneapolis and St. Paul, but how to keep them in baseball is the real challenge,” admits White, “how to retain them, because everything they hear about is basketball. [But] everybody is not going to be a big-time basketball player.”

For too many Black youth, and even some Black adults as well, baseball is seen as “the White boy’s sport,” White says. “I think what we really need is adults in the community to buy into baseball.

“I grew up next to Julio Becquer, who played for the Twins back in the ‘60s [1961, 1963],” remembers Batsell. “I grew up seeing all of his friends — Rod Carew, Tony Oliva and gentlemen like that right on 8th and Vincent.”

No Twins players, however, now live in that neighborhood where Batsell grew up and still lives.

For only a few moments two Sunday evenings ago, the Northside kids were “able to shake their hand and play catch with a major league ballplayer,” said Kent Brevik, a Minneapolis Park Board playground specialist who works with the city RBI program. “It’s priceless.”

- ADVERTISEMENT -

 

Charles Hallman welcomes reader responses to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.

Support Black local news

Help amplify Black voices by donating to the MSR. Your contribution enables critical coverage of issues affecting the community and empowers authentic storytelling.

Donate Now!

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...
ADVERTISEMENT
Previous Post

Hallman will lead his alma mater

Next Post

PHOTOS | MSR’s annual ‘Family Affair’ dinner honored graduates and families

Charles Hallman

Charles Hallman is a contributing reporter and award-winning sports columnist at the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.

You Might Also Like

Twins new scoreboards
Sports

Twins new scoreboards

Twins’ one Black coach takes some flak
Sports

Twins’ one Black coach takes some flak

Gordon sticks with the bigs this season
Sports

Gordon sticks with the bigs this season

Twins game host does double duty
Sports

Twins game host does double duty

Twins’ Royce Lewis shows his versatility — at a cost
Sports

Twins’ Royce Lewis shows his versatility — at a cost

Ballpark’s lone Black vendor would like some company
Sports

Ballpark’s lone Black vendor would like some company

Next Post
PHOTOS | MSR’s annual ‘Family Affair’ dinner honored graduates and families

PHOTOS | MSR’s annual ‘Family Affair’ dinner honored graduates and families

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
ADVERTISEMENT

Upcoming Events

Sep 12
September 12 @ 6:30 pm-December 18 @ 9:30 pm Recurring

Vic Volare Presents MUSIC FOR MARTINIS ft: Vic’s Fabulous Nightclub Academy

Sep 30
10:00 am-3:30 pm

Hands Across the Mississippi Walk for Peace and Justice

Sep 30
12:00 pm-3:00 pm

Live, Laugh, Learn Breast Cancer Event

Oct 3
October 3 @ 8:30 am-October 4 @ 5:30 pm

Insects: Little Body, Big Impact | Nobel Conference 59 | Virtual or In-Person

View Calendar
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Read our latest e-Edition!

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Subscribe

  • Home/Office Delivery
  • Weekly e-newsletter
  • e-Editions

Support

  • Donate
  • Subscribe
  • MSR Newsstand Locations

Connect

  • About
    • MSR Staff
  • Contact
  • Send a news tip
  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms

© 2023 Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

No Result
View All Result
  • News & Features
    • Local
    • National
  • All Sections
    • Arts & Culture
    • Health & Wellness
      • Women’s Wellness
      • Parenting Today
      • MN Cancer Alliance Breast Cancer Gaps Project
    • Business
      • Black Business Spotlight
      • Finances FYI
      • Small Business Month Celebration
    • Opinion
    • Sports
  • Events
  • Obits
  • Sister Spokesman
  • Donate
  • Subscribe

© 2023 Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: