The World Series comes to Minnesota

There’s nothing much better than watching a World Series baseball game in August.

Say what?

That’s right.  This month, the Twin Cities and the Minnesota Twins hosted the Reviving Baseball in Inner cities (RBI) World Series.  The tournament wraps up today with the junior and senior boys’ championship games at Target Field.  Because coordinating the Twins’ RBI support is one of Josh’s job duties for his work in the team’s front office, I’ve gotten an inside look at the tournament this summer.

This week, 16 teams from inner cities around the United States (plus the Dominican Republic and Venezuela) made up of kids ages 13-18 played several baseball games per day in St. Paul and Minneapolis.  They had team education sessions, spent time at the Mall of America, and stepped onto the grass at Target Field early in the week, giving each young player a chance to wonder if he and his teammates might be the lucky ones to play on the same grass this weekend for the title. The kids each have to write an essay about facing adversity before they arrive, and at the opening banquet, a winner is announced, as well as several college scholarship winners. At the banquet, the kids got to hear from Hall of Famer (and former Twin) Paul Molitor, and another local legend, Dave Winfield, spoke at the closing dinner. It’s a lot of work and planning for all parties involved: the Twins, the Major League Baseball and RBI crew in town, the volunteers, and the coaches.

But I went to a game yesterday to watch the junior Dominican Republic team take on  Houston, and I was reminded that part of what makes an event successful is when it doesn’t look like hard work.  The focus was simply on the kids and their games.  The well-organized games were motoring along, staff were exchanging score updates via Nextel radios, and it all looked like smooth sailing to me.  Someone walking past the fields wouldn’t be able to tell it was anything different than a regular evening of baseball—and on the surface from the stands, it looked that way, too. 

There was a spark to the game, though, that made the night extra-special.  These boys had all traveled a long way to Minnesota, and they wanted wins, bad.  From the Dominican-Houston diamond, I could hear the New York and Detroit dugout chants on the next field over. As the Dominican team put together a convincing win, the boys were hollering advice and encouragement in Spanish to their teammates on base, and the Houston fans and coaches were cheering their boys to stay in the game.  The sun sank low in the sky, the Dominican boys won, and both teams lingered on the field after pictures to chat.

It was good baseball--and it was pure baseball in the best possible way: kids from every background imaginable playing their hearts out on a warm summer night.  During a month when the Twins are struggling on the major league field, it’s a reminder about how special the game can be—and I’m not talking about monster home runs and dazzling Web Gems.

This program is making strides small and large in inner city communities all over the world.  If you’re reading this on Sunday morning, go check out the championship games and cheer on RBI’s good work.