The 2nd Annual HBCU Swingman Classic presented by T-Mobile & powered by the MLB-MLBPA Youth Development Foundation (YDF) is an All-Star experience for baseball student-athletes from Division-I programs at Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCU). MLBbro legend Ken Griffey Jr. was instrumental in putting this showcase of talent together to set off MLB All-Star week festivities.
This past Monday we celebrated Jackie Robinson Day, a day that changed the course of Major League Baseball forever. As the first ever MLBbro, he showed the world what a Black player in baseball could do.
Although we have come very far, there is still much work to be done. There was virtually no movement in the amount of Black players in the league this year, up only 0.2% from last year.
This is not for a lack of effort by Major League Baseball. Several programs have been implemented to help grow not only the popularity of the league but add more diversity. With programs like the Hank Aaron Invitational giving black players not only a chance to showcase their talent, but the opportunity to meet former MLBbros who have had success in the major leagues. Hall of Famers Ken Griffey Jr and Dave Winfiield are two of the MLBbros that are instructors in this program.
MLBbros Comprised 10.3 % Percent Of 260 Opening Day Starters | Black List By The Numbers
There was also the 2nd Annual Cactus Jack HBCU Classic which occurred in February. This game has shined a spotlight on colleges that feature Black players and give them a chance to be on display in a huge setting. The schools get to play a round-robin style tournament at the Houston Astros stadium, Minute Maid Park. Ken Griffey’s HBCU Swingman’s Classic has become a flagship event for Black college players with MLB dreams.
The DREAM Series in Arizona and the Breakthrough Series, in Vero Beach, Florida, where Jackie Robinson had Spring Training with the Brooklyn Dodgers, are designed to give African Americans opportunity to get exposed to some MLB eyes and introduced to a new fan base.
Since the debut of Robinson in 1947, MLBbros have been a force in the big leagues.
However, in recent years, while the sport has become more global, African American participation has slimmed tremendously. There must be support, opportunity, and intentionality in increasing these numbers. Major League baseball is doing their part, and MLBbros of the past must continue to do their part as well as they are the example that it can be achieved.
Hank Aaron Invitational: African-American MLB Pitching Fraternity Discusses State of Black Pitcher
Seeing is believing, and putting notable MLBbros at the forefront is key in succeeding in this goal. The Chief Baseball Development Officer, Tony Reagins is a black man, who leads the aforementioned Breakthrough Series, and has been advocating for this change and doing his best to aid the cause. The more focus shed on this issue, the spooner it gets better.
The annual HBCU Swingman Classic is just five months away.
Tickets will go on sale now due to the great turnout from last year’s inaugural event. Last year it was in Seattle, this year it’s at Globe Life Field, home of the World Series Champion Texas Rangers,
50 players from historically Black colleges and universities will showcase their skills nationally, while spotlighting the legacies of HBCU programs. The classic is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT and will air live on MLB Network.
The Swingman Classic held its first event on July 7th, 2023, with some of baseball’s biggest names helping to bring it to fruition and promote it on a large audience.
MLB Hall of Famer, Ken Griffey Jr, supported the swingman classic and MLBbro was there every step of the way.
With Griffey now a main supporter of this combine, many other Black baseball greats were inspired to help this classic and get more eyes on Black College baseball and the deep talent pool that participates in at these schools.
As a representative, Griffey knows that HBCU talent needs exposure and the mainstream market. With his presence, he can bring them to the table.
“It gives an opportunity for these guys to be seen; plus, they want to continue their baseball career like everyone else,” said Junior, who had 13 All Star appearances and 10 Gold Gloves throughout his career. “This is an opportunity for these guys to be out there on a big stage, to have fun with some guys who played the game at a high level and learn some things.”
For years HBCU athletics have not received the proper recognition from Major League Baseball, despite examples of great players ascending from those programs into MLB stardom.
This combine and game during the MLB All-Star festivities will put the MLB on notice as some great baseball players are in the HBCU system.
HBCU players are well-represented in the MLB. Players such as Ricky and Jemile Weeks, Joe Black, Lou Brock, Andre Dawson and more. In the 2023 MLB draft, there were three players from HBCUs who got drafted.
Former HBCU stars Trey Paige, and Xavier Meachen (10th Round, Florida Marlins), were selected for the 2023 draft and were also at the first annual Swingman Classic, which undoubtedly put them on new radars and elevated their stock.
“I was super excited I got the invite,” Paige, who was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 17th round out of Delaware State, told MLBbro last year. “This shows that you can go to an HBCU and still have some recognition with big-name schools,” Paige said.
Paige plays mostly the infield and has bounced around the minor leagues for most of the year. Just like last year, there will be a ton of MLBbro talent on the field. Maybe even more, considering that this year might have a much bigger and better turnout.
Even though the Swingman Classic is set to showcase some of the brightest young talents, this is also an opportunity to showcase the HBCU baseball alum in attendance.
Ricky Weeks Jr played and attended Southern University A&M. While being a standout baseball star during his time in college, Weeks managed to put Southern A&M on the map. Weeks was one of very few to be an HBCU alum during his time in the majors. However, this shows that there is talent in HBCU athletics.
With this new recognition that HBCU athletes are getting now, this event can be another route for great baseball talent from underpromoted schools to become Major Leaguers stars.
This week, the eyes of the baseball world will be on Seattle as the All-Star festivities build towards Tuesday night’s Midsummer Classic.
Seattle is a city that has always had a strong connection with Black Americans, and Black baseball, dating back to the early 1900s.
As many as four teams had taken root in the Pacific Northwest prior to the creation of the Seattle Steelheads as part of the West Coast Negro League in 1946.
That was the same year that Branch Rickey signed Jackie Robinson to a minor-league contract.
The West Coast League had an expiration date before it ever took the field as MLB was moving closer and closer to admitting its first Black player into its ranks.
Owned by Abe Saperstein, the same man who founded and financed the Harlem Globetrotters, the Steelheads were a local success.
However, the league around them was crumbling and ended play in July of its inaugural season.
When the Mariners arrived in 1977, nearly 30 years later, baseball was full of Black stars.
The American League All-Star team that year included eight MLBbros, with the National League roster having eight of its own.
Compare that to this season, where just six Black players made the cut. Two of those, Aaron Judge and Marcus Stroman, won’t even suit up.
It’s a discouraging number, and down from a year ago, but it is what it is.
However, Seattle has long maintained a lineage of Black stars for its franchise. Starting with Rupert Jones, the team’s first All-Star, and moving through names like Alvin “Mr. Mariner” Davis, Harold Reynolds, the team’s Golden Era with Ken Griffey Jr., and on to Mike Cameron and now JP Crawford.
So, there was no more appropriate setting for the first Swingman HBCU Classic.
Griffey, the greatest Mariner of all-time, and one of the most universally loved athletes in any sport, has always understood the place that Black athletes have held in the game that he has dedicated his life to.
With just over 6 percent of all MLB players being Black, somehow and somewhere, the connection between our community and baseball was frayed.
The timing of the game comes at an inflection point in our country’s history. The Supreme Court of the United States recently struck down policies that consider race in college admissions. The debate over buzzwords like “opportunity,” “equity,” and “fairness” once again rages on.
People have argued that affirmative action and its equivalents have tarnished the achievements of Black Americans; cheapened them even.
Though, statistics show that the playing field is far from even for all those in the game.
This is why the Swingman Classic is so important.
The perception of inferiority that is associated with HBCU programs is pervasive in our culture, despite all evidence to the contrary. Those attitudes lead to many talented people, both in sports and in life being overlooked.
The Swingman Classic gave 50 young men the opportunity to show what they could do. Not as Black baseball players, but as baseball players. They got to be around others like them, who made the journey from schools like Southern University and Florida A&M to the diamonds of the big leagues.
"Standing next to you is mind blowing."@TXSOBASEBALL's C.J. Castillo joined Ken Griffey Jr. and Harold for a mid-inning chat. #HBCUSwingmanClassic pic.twitter.com/GYX4pzrGkU
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) July 8, 2023
They interacted with Hall of Famers and were given a level on encouragement and validation that they may never have felt before on the biggest stage many of them will ever see.
The final score ultimately will be forgotten. Hopefully, what the game meant will not and we see this, along with baseball’s other efforts to bring Black Americans back to the game, continue to bear fruit.
Ken Griffey Jr was known for having the sweetest swing in baseball during his career. This may be the one that defines his legacy as much as the more than 600 that resulted in home runs.
MLBbro.com reporter Timothy McKain interviews legendary sports broadcaster Dave Sims who will be very busy covering the HBCU Swingman Classic with Harold Reynolds during All-Star Week. In Part 2, Sims talks about the greatest moments of his career, his inspirations in the sports media game and his OG opinion of the broadcast media landscape today.
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