STUART — For the kids at the East 10th Street Recreation Center, shooting hoops or playing football for the Stuart Hornets is all a part of growing up.

Taking a few swings with the bat or playing soft toss on the diamond is not, a reflection of baseball’s diminished grasp in some areas of the country especially those populated by black youth.

But Martin County High School graduate and Florida Marlins pitcher Scott Proctor is hoping to make baseball a real option for kids in historically black East Stuart.

“This was one of our initial dreams,” Proctor said, “getting baseball to different groups of kids. Just growing up, I’d see one or two black kids playing baseball … not a lot. Come to find out, rides to practice are a problem. And baseball costs a lot of money. The bats are expensive, the gloves, cleats.”

Proctor’s agent, Mark Rodgers of Palm City, and the Martin County North Little League, of which he is vice president, gave $10,000 to help refurbish the baseball field at the Guy Davis Sports Complex, which is no more than a soft toss from the front doors of the rec center.

Then Proctor and his M.E.’s Team Charitable Foundation, Inc., named for his daughter, Mary Elizabeth to fund research for pediatric heart ailments, stepped in with another $10,000.

In addition to providing equipment like a pitching machine, that money helped turn the 10th Street players into a team.

. “What Scott has done is filled in the credibility gap,” Rodgers said. “His $10,000 is paying for those kids to play in our Little League.”

This spring the Scrappers will be playing in the MCNLL’s Minor League, for ages 9-10. It’s a team made up wholly of kids from East Stuart, 13 recreation center kids most of whom never played the game before, according to coach George Bailey.

But now, they’re practicing baseball almost every day – after homework is completed.

“A long time ago, they were playing baseball (around here) and it stopped,” said 10-year-old McKenzie Clark, one of the Scrappers. “Now we’re trying to bring it back up. Scott Proctor donated the $10,000 to us, so we could find a way to play baseball.”

Proctor is trying to be hands-on with the group, too.

“He taught us how he grips the ball,” said 10-year-old Jabari Brooks. “He practiced with us a little bit.”

The Scrappers will play one game a week at Sailfish Park, home to the MCNLL, and one at their 10th Street field.

“We want them to see our field,” said Marcus Coleman, also 10.

That field, formerly an all-purpose set-up with a dirt infield is now a bona fide baseball diamond with a grass infield – a change that has made a difference. “We’re elated that there are enough kids for one team,” Rodgers said. “We hope we can generate enough interest this year and the next two or three and grow the program.”

Blacks and Baseball

• Blacks comprised 12.8 percent of U.S. population, according to 2006 U.S. Census bureau quick facts.

• In 1997, 17 percent of Major League Baseball players were black. In 2007, 8.2 percent were black according to the Racial and Gender Report Card, published by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports

• A study of 5,500 youth baseball players on select or traveling all-star teams across 26 states in the last eight years found that 3.5 percent of those players were black. The study was conducted by University of Nebraska-Omaha associated professor Dave Ogden. He said the number varies from 2.5 to 4.5 percent per year.

• 90 percent of college baseball players play select ball, according to research by Ogden. In 2005-06, the last year stats are available from TIDES, 5.7 percent of college baseball players were black.

• Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities, started in 1989 by John Young and administered by Major League Baseball since 1991, provides playing opportunities to an estimated 120,000 disadvantaged youth ages 13-18 annually.

• The Rookie League, re-instated in 2002, is machine-pitch for ages 12-under. More than 250 Rookie Leagues have been funded by MLB and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America since 2002.

• Little League Urban Initiative, started in 1999, operates 200 leagues in 85 cities. An estimated 50,000 youth participated in 2008.

M.E.’s Team Charitable Foundation benefit

What: Scott Proctor’s second-annual Celebrity Sporting Clays Tournament

Where: Quail Creek Plantation in Okeechobee, 9 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 7

Why: Fundraiser for M.E.’s Team Charitable Foundation, Inc., which benefits Treasure Coast children

How: To enter, call Jaci Ingeman at (772) 349-1067 or e-mail jpingeman@gmail.com
By Aimee Ford Foster, TCPalm.com

Tags: baseball, baseball field, black kids, boy, census, center kids, children, coach george, college, credibility gap, davis sports complex, florida marlins, football, front doors, george bailey, girl, heart ailments, historically black, kids, mark rodgers, mcnll, money, name, Okeechobee, Palm City, pediatric heart, pitcher, pitching machine, real option, scott proctor, shooting, shooting hoops, travel

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