Capital baseball legends, including Dusty Baker, give back to youth at game to honor Negro Leagues

Sacramento baseball legend and two-time World Series Champion Dusty Baker imparted wisdom to the next generation of baseball players during the fourth annual honorary Negro League Baseball exhibition game hosted by Perfect Game Pitching Solutions.

Some of the top prep baseball players in Northern California were selected to showcase their talents in front of scouts, coaches and former players each year to provide exposure for Black and brown players.

This year’s game featured representations of the Indianapolis Clowns and Birmingham Black Barons as baseball fans and families voyaged to John Smith Field at Sacramento State to watch the young talent Sunday. Some spectators even looked on from the parking structure north of the field as the Clowns won the exhibition match, 13-2, in seven innings.

Baker spent time in both dugouts encouraging players, giving them insights about the game Baker played for 19 seasons before managing the San Francisco Giants and other teams for 30 years. He said it was important for Black kids to play because they carry on the legacy of the Negro Leagues, a mainstay for Black athletes until the color barrier was broken by Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.

“Without them most of us would not have been able to play in the game, you know, had they failed,” Baker said. “Especially the guys that were hand-picked to come out of the league, had they failed, then that would have been a failed experiment and then it had been backed up, who knows, another 20 to 30 years.”

The game was coached by former MLB players born in the capital region such as Fernando Viña, Ricky Jordan, R.J. Reynolds, Thomas Neal and USA Women’s Baseball 2004 gold medalist Nisha Britton who gave young athletes firsthand knowledge and tools to improve their game.

“I was blessed and grateful to make it to the major leagues myself. I never thought I’d play one day,” said Viña, a 1987 Valley High graduate whose journey included stints at Cosumnes River College, Sacramento City College and Arizona State before shaping a 12-year MLB career. “If I can come out here and give back to them everything that everybody gave to me throughout my career to help me succeed, you know, it makes me feel good to make a difference with these kids and be part of it.”

Jordan — who graduated from Grant Union High in 1983 and five years later as a Philadelphia Phillie hit a home run in his first at-bat — provided baseball and life lessons, hoping it would provide those on the teams an advantage.

“Hopefully, this will help some of them get looked at,” said Jordan, who spent eight seasons in big leagues. “Maybe some scouts or some college coaches out here can help them move forward with their careers.”

Viña’s message: Work hard and take care of your business.

“This can be a life-changing experience for you and your parents, and good things can happen,” Viña said about the kids’ potential. “The window they have right now at this age is small, so we have to get it figured out quickly and get that work underneath you.”

Two players from each team were named game MVP. Jason Harris, a junior at Franklin High School in Elk Grove, was awarded the defensive crown for the Clowns; sophomore Dominic Brazelton of C.K. McClatchy High was named the team’s offensive MVP for his performance. The Black Barons awarded seniors Nikko Taylor of De Anza High School in Richmond and Quinten Marsh of Valley Christian in San Jose.

Black presence in MLB continues to wane

Todd Sullivan, founder of Perfect Game Pitching Solutions, first organized the exhibition talent showcase event in 2021.

“Our goal, what we do here, is to make sure that the better, talented player is showcased in an opportunity, at no cost, so these people can understand the importance of the athlete that they’re losing out on,” Sullivan said.

Participation in baseball among African-American players is dropping.

The MLB on Opening Day in April reported 6% of active players were Black, down from 6.2% in 2023. It’s lower than when the league first integrated 70-plus years ago.

“You see a lot of young African American kids playing football and basketball now,” Jordan said. “They don’t play baseball anymore because they don’t think they can get the opportunity to do it.”

There’s a bevy of things to point to that’s contributed to the decline, Baker said.

“It’s a matter of economics, a matter of scouting, a matter of not signing very many guys out of the historical Black colleges, and a matter of finances in order to play in the first place, because it takes a lot of money to play baseball,” Baker said.

He recalled asking his wife, Melissa, how come their son Darren, who now plays for the Washington Nationals, had to go to places like Cooperstown, Nebraska, Arizona and Florida to be scouted along his path to the big leagues. Luckily, Baker said, he was in a position to economically help his son fulfill his dream.

“Imagine a family that has three or four boys, and you have to choose which one is going to play and which one’s not,” he said.

Greg Vaughn, another Sacramento baseball legend and a four-time MLB all-star, called out the league, saying he wasn’t surprised at the drop in Black players.

He said the league and teams have to make a conscious effort to scout and sign Black players.

“They put titles on organizations to say, ‘this is what they’re doing for us.’ But if we never see it, and it’s not all of us, how does that help?”

Vaughn believes change will happen by continually bringing awareness to the issue.

“We have to do a better job of finding our players here in the U.S.,” he said. “We have to do a better job of giving them a chance, building academies and places just like they do in Latin America.

“We have to do a better job of hiring minority coaches so they can relate to these players, because some teams have zero players. Can you imagine if you’re only one player on that team that’s an African American? Who are you going to talk to? Who’s going to understand what you deal with as being a Black man? Nobody.”

One notable way the league is working to attract Black players has been through the Dream Series, one of MLB’s developmental programs. Other experience events include the Breakthrough Series and the Hank Aaron Invitational.

Vaughn said the game has a long way to go and he wasn’t going to give the MLB their flowers just yet.

“(We’re) talking about this stuff in 2024, all the stuff that Jackie Robinson fought for, all the stuff that the Negro Leagues fought for, all the stuff that they went through, Mr. Biddle, all the former Negro League players, all the Black players before us,” he said. “You can’t tell me, we just don’t know how to play baseball anymore. Come on, man, you can miss me with that. They don’t want us there. That’s the problem.”