LOS ANGELES, CA — With all the fanfare on the top professional baseball players that we see in the news, on social media, and on television, we need to know where these incredible athletes came from. Everyone playing professional baseball, from the past to the present, began with a Dad, Mom, or sibling having a catch. That simple time of just tossing a ball to an older person and feeling the happiness of those moments will remain forever in the minds of anyone who experienced it.
And then, there are the coaches, from tee-ball, travel ball, high school, and sometimes college. All the while being observed and cataloged by professional scouts, who are the evaluators who take a chance on a skinny kid who he has a gut feeling about. A feeling that comes with the experience of seeing so many young players over many years of scouting. The key here is “seeing them.”
So many superstars we see today in MLB started off by getting the attention of a scout at their respective workout, practice and/or game during their teenage years – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
Typically, they start at ages four-seven, learning the fundamentals at places like the Copiague Youth Leagues on Long Island, Castle Hill Little League in the Bronx, Inwood-Manhattan Little League, or Bronxchester Little League, where they are taught to focus on basic skills like throwing and catching. It is there where they begin to build a love for the game.
Players like Andrew Velazquez, Bobby Bonilla, and Manny Ramírez, just to name a few, all came out of youth programs in and around these areas. During the turbulent inner-city years from the middle 1960’s until early 1972, kids didn’t have the opportunity to be part of many youth programs, and many gifted athletes were missed.
Before his pro-playing career, Andrew Velazquez attended attended Fordham Preparatory School in the Bronx, NY, where he played for the school’s baseball team – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
Today, another obstacle stands in the way of these kids: “Travel Ball.”
The issue with travel ball and how it affects inner-city minorities in the United States results in a big problem. To give their children the opportunity to compete with the best, parents often face a significant financial burden, with costs ranging from $600 to over $3,000 per season, plus equipment, plane flights, hotels, and food, which can bring the total to $5,000-$6,000.
Many families will make that sacrifice for their kid, but many others simply can’t afford it.
Andrew Velazquez’s family in attendance for a Yankees regular season game in the Bronx to watch Andrew play in front of 45,000+ fans just a few miles away from where he grew up – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
You have to wonder how many players like Dominican Dellin Betances, who attended Progress High School within the Grand Street Campus in Brooklyn, New York, and Ken Singleton, who played in the Bronx Federation League at Macombs Dam Park, across the street from Yankee Stadium, will miss the chance to become a Big League ballplayer?
Think of the billions of dollars MLB brings in, and the enormous contracts some of these players earn.
The Dodgers are paying Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto over $1 billion combined on their current contracts (Ohtani: 10 years for $700M and Yamamoto: 12 years for $325 million) – Image Credit: Francisco Rodriguez/Latino Sports
The Yankees had revenues of close to $800 million, while the Dodgers topped $1 billion. MLB averages about $3.5 million in donations to youth baseball every year. That’s for the whole entire sport! About $166,000 per team. Shame on them.
The 2025 MLB postseason generated a total player bonus pool of nearly $128.2 million, while total league revenue estimates have now approached $10 billion annually!
Individual players continue to step up and give back to these inner-city programs and communities, it’s time for MLB’s team billionaires to step up to the plate and support the kids who are their future.
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