Darren Oliver is a left-handed relief pitcher for the Texas Rangers.  I have never met Darren but I am a fan of his from afar based on his work ethic on the field and hearing him speak during press conferences.

Ron Washington is the manager of the Texas Rangers.  Ron had his share of problems during the 2010 season dealing with drug addition but he wasn’t alone.  His struggle helped motivate the Rangers team to come together and do something that the organization has never done.  The Rangers are in the 2010 World Series.

Beside being members of the Rangers organization, Oliver and Washington have something else in common.  They are the only African-Americans participating on the field during the 2010 World Series.

Like anything in life, you have to be good enough to get invited to the “big dance”.  But with less than 9% of blacks playing and coaching at the major league level, chances of having an African-American playing or participating in the World Series are too slim to bet on.

The reason that chances are slim is typically due to economics rather than interest in predominately black communities. Becoming a major leaguer starts with a dream at a young age and is fostered by professional training.  Professional training costs thousands of dollars to pay for travel tournaments, nutrition, consulting, vision training and equipment to name a few resources that you MUST have.  It is kinda like trying to drive a car without a steering wheel.  You will not compete as a baseball player at the highest level without consistent professional help.

We are talking about an annual 5K-10K investment.  Baseball is no longer the sport that allows you to develop skills by playing in the neighborhood, hitting rocks with an old wood bat and throwing strikes into a tire until your mom said it is time to come in the house.  Those days are gone!

There are less than 9% of blacks in the majors and less than 6% competing at the NCAA level.  This is a crisis but L.E.A.D. has heard the cry for help.  We’ve answered by going into the inner city, mentoring young men and preparing them for college.  We are proud to say 100% of our Ambassadors have graduated high school and were admitted to college; 83% of them have attended college on scholarship.  L.E.A.D. is the only development organization that uses baseball to promote excellence with those statistics.

My parents didn’t have a college fund saved for me so getting a baseball scholarship was the best present that I could ever give them.  Now we are trying help more young men earn scholarships and give that same gift to their parents.

Baseball is America‘s game but something has to be done to increase the African-American presence at the MLB and collegiate level.  More African-Americans in the NCAA means more students have a chance to earn degrees and the opportunity to help create a stronger job force in America.  Getting this right means we see young black men to college, not in jail cells.  .

I’m actually cheering for the Rangers because of Jeff Francoeur but the 2010 World Series puts America on notice that enough isn’t being done for baseball in inner city communities.  There will be millions of eyes on the World Series.  If your eyes can open a little wider America, look at L.E.A.D. in Atlanta.

B.E.S.T. is successful because of the leadership of its principal LaPaul Shelton.  It is a culture that sets high expectations and fosters respect between the teachers and students.  I saw them all at their best today and it wasn’t staged.

L.E.A.D.’s Fall Legacy League Instructional Program is America‘s 1st program that focuses on the professional development of inner city baseball players.  In three years, L.E.A.D. has successfully placed 83% of our Ambassadors in college with scholarships and 100% of our Ambassadors have enrolled in college. 

All of the talent in L.E.A.D. is raw, meaning that they haven’t been coached professionally.  We don’t run away from raw talent because we have a development P.R.O.C.E.S.S. that works.

We PREPARE our Leaders by educating them on the front end about the fundamentals required to convert their raw talent to skills that are attractive to college coaches for scholarship opportunities.

We REINFORCE those fundamentals taught on the field and in the classroom with skill building drills, using a methodology on and off the field with journaling and weekly blogs.

We give OPPORTUNITIES for our Leaders to learn from their mistakes in an instructional game  environment.  If they make a mistake, we recreate the situation and do it again.  Practice makes permanent.

We teach our Leaders how to COMMUNICATE through positive conversations with our coaches instead of negative body language.

We EXPOSE our Leaders to high level competition against top tier teams to test what has been learned.  The games are indeed a test.  We make mistakes on the test but get opportunities in practice to learn and continue the development process.

We teach our Leaders that without STRUGGLE there is never SUCCESS.  Proper development always includes failure.

L.E.A.D. will continue to succeed using this process of development of raw inner city baseball talent.  All we need is for the families to come into the organization willing to develop.