D.C. Unveils Its Diamond In The Rough
By CBSNews.com's Stephen Smith
Not a single inning has been played at Nationals Park, but Keith Stubbs has already witnessed the stadium's energy.
Stubbs, who runs a local baseball program for inner-city youths, recently took some of his kids on a tour of the freshly manicured diamond.
"They're lighting up when you take them down on the field," he says. "They can start to visualize and imagine what it would be like to play there."
This Sunday, Nationals Park will host the first primetime game of the 2008 season. The newly minted $611 million stadium marks not only a rebirth for the local team, but a potential sea change in the nation's capital. Built along the Anacostia River in southeast Washington, the ballpark is poised to revitalize a long-neglected area of the city and help renew African American interest in baseball.
Of cities with a big league team, Washington has one of the largest black populations in the country. Roughly 60 percent of the nation's capital is African American and that ratio is much higher in Wards 6, 7 and 8, which surround the new stadium. However, as in many cities, baseball hasn't taken off in D.C.'s black neighborhoods. Less than a third of Washington's high schools field a team; Howard University, one of the nation's most prominent black colleges, canceled its baseball program for good in 2002.
"There is no doubt that baseball has not attracted the diversity of African American participants as in other sports," says Alphonso Maldon, a founding partner and senior VP of external affairs for the Nationals.
The statistics prove Maldon's point. In 1995, 19 percent of major leaguers were African American. This year, that number has dwindled to less than 9 percent. Though the league has a sizeable percentage of minority players, the sport is losing its already thin pipeline to black talent. By comparison, almost three out of four NBA players are black and 67 percent of NFL players are black.
The disparity can be traced in part to the competing economics of other countries versus inner cities, says Richard Lapchick, the director for the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. Baseball teams can often sign three or four Latin American players for every young African American prospect.
However, the new stadium gives the Nationals (who have six African Americans on their 40-man roster) a unique opportunity to shift the game's complexion, says Lapchick.
"Getting African American players out into the community will be very helpful," he says. "Obviously D.C. is a different kind of city in terms of demographics, so it can have a tremendous impact on its fan base if they can market not only the game but… create opportunities for children of color."
Keith Stubbs is trying to do just that. After becoming the director of Washington's RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) chapter 12 years ago, he started the BATTER UP Foundation in 2004. The organization provides baseball training, education and mentoring to roughly 500 kids in Wards 7 and 8 - "where all the poor black kids are," he says bluntly.
Stubbs, who is also a scout for the Philadelphia Phillies, has partnered with the Nationals and several corporate sponsors to raise the profile of his programs. It's working. BATTER UP has raised half a million dollars and helped about 100 local kids go on to play college baseball.
But it's just a start. Stubbs says his model for getting blacks on the field will prosper only if the deep pockets of D.C. make a strong financial commitment.
"They give us their logos but we need their checks," he says.
Stubbs' program could use more money, but the new stadium has generated other investments in the area. Just a few years ago, the 21-acre stretch east of South Capitol Street would never have lured any developers. Among the attractions: an asphalt plant, a trash company, and half a dozen gay nightclubs. But when the city secured financing for a new stadium, the properties were demolished in 2006.
Now a real estate renaissance is taking root in Southeast D.C. Maldon says roughly $8.5 billion is being invested to makeover the area along the Anacostia River near Nationals Park. Office buildings, condos and retail shops are springing up. Perhaps most promising is the plan to redevelop Poplar Point, the long-downtrodden tract of waterfront just across the river from the new stadium. The transformation could be a major boon for the area's poor black population.
As the Nationals take the field in their new stadium, they are keenly aware of their newfound opportunity - and obligation. Maldon says the team and city are raising money to build a youth baseball academy near Nationals Park. The program, which will teach both baseball basics and the business of sports management, will be located in Ward 7.
The team has also "adopted" several nearby public schools, and every player on the Nationals is required to make at least one visit per month in the community. Maldon says that when local kids get a chance to meet players who grew up in similar circumstances, they can aspire to the same goals.
Stubbs has already seen his efforts move the ball forward. One of his star pupils, Emmanuel Burris, was selected in the first round of the 2006 draft by the San Francisco Giants - the first Washington, D.C. public high school player to be drafted in 20 years.
Still, the city is struggling to overcome a drought that has extended from the ballfield to the stands. The Washington Senators suffered through decades of mostly losing seasons, and ticket sales plummeted. That changed noticeably in the 1940s when the Homestead Grays - a Negro Leagues team - emerged to win over the city's long-suffering fans. Though based in Pennsylvania, the Grays played, and won, many of their games in Griffith Stadium - the Senators' ballpark. Slugger Josh Gibson (dubbed "the black Babe Ruth") led the team to nine straight league championships.
"The city of D.C. adopted them as their home team," says Sean Gibson, Josh Gibson's great grandson. "People gravitate to winning teams, whether they are black teams or white."
In fact, the Grays often drew more fans than the Senators, the city's "white" team. Poor attendance and losing records would doom the Senators twice - the team left in 1961 for Minnesota, and a second franchise defected to Texas 10 years later.
In 1978, Calvin Griffith, the Senators' owner, revealed one reason he took his team away from Washington: "Black people don't go to ballgames."
Whether Nationals Park lures more African American fans or helps foster blacks' participation in the sport remains to be seen. Either way, the stadium is planning its own visual inspiration. Three statues will adorn the park's steel, glass and concrete plaza. Two will depict Washington Senators stars Walter Johnson and Frank Howard.
The third will honor Negro Leagues legend Josh Gibson.