Why we need to continue to make our own history

The first expansion of Major League Baseball from the Northeast was when the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles. Jackie Robinson was born in Cairo, Georgia, and moved to LA as a child. He was a multi-sport star at UCLA, as well as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army.

Many would assume that Robison would be at the top of my list of heroes because I was born in Georgia like him. He continues to be an inspiration to many because he became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era.

I was born and raised in a low-income community of Atlanta called “Bankhead.” Henry “Hank” Aaron was my hero. Aaron was born in a low-income community in Mobile, Alabama referred to as “Down the Bay.” He started his professional baseball career in the Negro Leagues with the Indianapolis Clowns. His Major League career began with the Milwaukee Braves, where he arguably was the best baseball player in the world.

According to NPS.gov, “During [Ivan] Allen’s administration, Atlanta was dubbed “the City too Busy to Hate.” In the summer of 1966, Allen tried to live up to that image by going into the black inner city community of Summerhill to try to calm racial tension.

In 1966, The Atlanta Braves, under the skill and courage of Hammerin’ Hank Aaron, lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-2, becoming the first Major League sports team in the South. More than anything, the game proved that Atlanta was “the City too Busy to Hate.”

Why were the Braves the first Major League sports team in the South? Black athletes were playing in the MLB before 1966, so why was there no MLB team in the South?

Because Jim Crow Laws prevented the interaction of Blacks and whites in the South.

Hank Aaron changed laws by the way he hit balls.

According the Wikipedia, The Atlanta Braves laid claim to the name “America’s Team.” From 1977-2007, their games played out on TBS, a nationwide cable TV system. The exposure helped the Braves build a fan base across the US, especially those that were far removed from a Major League Baseball team.

The other team to get national cable exposure on the SuperStation was the Chicago Cubs. During the hot summer days in Atlanta in 1984, I would regularly watch the Cubs in the day time and the Braves at night.

I fell in love with the Cubs because they had the best record of the two, becoming National League East Champions in 84.

Today, along with my wife, Kelli, we are leading 250 Black boys grades 6-12 in Atlanta to become Major League Citizens. On Feb. 10, 2023, the world will hear an announcement that is going to change the game of athletics forever.

The world is waiting.

For more information, visit L.E.A.D. Center for Youth today. Also, check out our Digital Magazine.

C.J. Stewart has built a reputation as one of the leading professional hitting instructors in the country. He is a former professional baseball player in the Chicago Cubs organization and has also served as an associate scout for the Cincinnati Reds. As founder and CEO of Diamond Directors Player Development, C.J. has more than 22 years of player development experience and has built an impressive list of clients, including some of the top young prospects in baseball today. If your desire is to change your game for the better, C.J. Stewart has a proven system of development and a track record of success that can work for you.

Tracing the path to what ‘MLK Day’ means to me—and my career

When I was around 15 or 16, I met Patrick Miller. I still cannot remember how we met because the reason we connected was because of baseball. He was white and lived in Cobb County; I was black living in Bankhead.

I remember he had a house with cars in the garage. He had fruit on the table to grab and go, and a dog. All of this was new to me. I considered it to be a white way of living.

Fast-forward many years later, I am 46, married to my beautiful wife, Kelli, and we have two beautiful daughters, Mackenzi and Mackenna. We lived in Cobb. We always have fruit to grab and go, and our dog, Bose, lives in the house with us.

That experience with Patrick helped shape my future.

This past Monday, Jan. 16, we celebrated another “MLK Day” in America. Although legislation for a federal holiday was introduced in Congress as early as 1968, there was sufficient opposition, on racial and political grounds, to block its passage. In 1983, legislation making the third Monday in January a federal holiday finally was passed, and the first observance nationwide was in 1986. (Britannica.com)

“MLK Day” was a day on, not a day off experience for me. I was able to serve families in the Dallas, Texas community with the Players Alliance.

I am grateful for all that Martin Luther King, Jr., did for mankind. I am also grateful to Hosea Williams for being one of the first to introduce legislation for the “MLK Day.”

For more information, visit L.E.A.D. Center for Youth today. Also, check out our Digital Magazine.

C.J. Stewart has built a reputation as one of the leading professional hitting instructors in the country. He is a former professional baseball player in the Chicago Cubs organization and has also served as an associate scout for the Cincinnati Reds. As founder and CEO of Diamond Directors Player Development, C.J. has more than 22 years of player development experience and has built an impressive list of clients, including some of the top young prospects in baseball today. If your desire is to change your game for the better, C.J. Stewart has a proven system of development and a track record of success that can work for you.

 

Doing the good you do

Martin Luther King Day for 2023 will be celebrated on Monday, Jan. 16. Like me, he was born and raised in Atlanta, and educated in Atlanta Public Schools.

Did you know that Jackie Robinson was also born in Georgia? He played an important role in the Civil Rights Movement. According to Wikipedia, the Civil Rights Movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the US to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination and disenfranchisement throughout the United States.

As a child, I often was told that in order to be successful in life, I would have to excel at academia like Martin Luther King. When I was taught about the life of Jackie Robinson, I learned you can excel in academics and athletics.

Baseball is a powerful tool—one that can teach social emotional learning capacities such as:

  • Contribution
  • Goal orientation
  • Positive identity
  • Self-confidence
  • Self-efficacy
  • Self-management
  • Social capital
  • Social connections
  • Social skills

With another Major League Baseball season right around the corner, it is important to understand that baseball doesn’t just build character; it exposes it.

Being an elite baseball player can come along with fame and fortune, so be sure to use that fame and fortune to do good in the world. Success is based on what you get and significance is what you give.

Remember, skills pay the bills.

For more information, visit L.E.A.D. Center for Youth today. Also, check out our Digital Magazine.

C.J. Stewart has built a reputation as one of the leading professional hitting instructors in the country. He is a former professional baseball player in the Chicago Cubs organization and has also served as an associate scout for the Cincinnati Reds. As founder and CEO of Diamond Directors Player Development, C.J. has more than 22 years of player development experience and has built an impressive list of clients, including some of the top young prospects in baseball today. If your desire is to change your game for the better, C.J. Stewart has a proven system of development and a track record of success that can work for you.

Becoming one with wisdom

N Never
E Enough
W – Wisdom

It’s a New Year, which means there will be new challenges and opportunities for 2023 for you.

  • What do you hope for in the new year?
  • What do you pray about?
  • What do you dream about?

If it’s God’s will, you will accomplish everything on your list. It may also be His will for you to grow mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually by way of adversity.

Let me give you something new that you can add to your list. It is something you can never get enough of. It will guide you on and off the field. It will be your saving grace when your on field baseball career is over.

Wisdom. You can never have enough wisdom.

Knowledge is the result of gaining information plus experience. And experience plus good judgement is wisdom.

You can find a good coach to give you information. Taking what you learn and applying it on the field in games is experience. But one of the things that separates elite players from the rest is their ability to make good judgments.

Elite players and elite people make commitments and discipline themselves to get things to die because they have to and not because they always want to.

  • Intentional practice reps
  • Intentional practice time
  • Rest and recovery
  • Diet
  • Studying pitchers (pitch types, speeds, locations, delivery, etc.)
  • Strength training (mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual)

These are six things that wise hitters make a habit of.

Are you wise?

Remember, skills pay the bills.

For more information, visit L.E.A.D. Center for Youth today. Also, check out our Digital Magazine.

C.J. Stewart has built a reputation as one of the leading professional hitting instructors in the country. He is a former professional baseball player in the Chicago Cubs organization and has also served as an associate scout for the Cincinnati Reds. As founder and CEO of Diamond Directors Player Development, C.J. has more than 22 years of player development experience and has built an impressive list of clients, including some of the top young prospects in baseball today. If your desire is to change your game for the better, C.J. Stewart has a proven system of development and a track record of success that can work for you.

Why good results are not an accident

When working with my Diamond Directors clients and L.E.A.D. Ambassadors, there is one thing I always like to emphasize: Don’t let good results be an accident.

The only way things can be intentional is through purpose and practice, working November through January.

Purpose is the reason for doing something and practice is getting habit-building reps.

Bear with me as I teach a bit more. Talent is what you do well and habits are things you do well repeatedly without thought. Skills are things you do well repeatedly without thought while under stress.

There are seven parts to the swing that include:

  1. Stance/Load
  2. Timing
  3. Tempo
  4. Tracking
  5. Approach
  6. Contact
  7. Extension/Finish

Seven parts of the swing times 3,000 reps is 21,000 reps.

Timing is a habit that is under-coached and one of the easiest to develop.

Here’s a simple timing drill for you to execute through the end of January. I challenge you to get 3,000 reps.

If you do it, it will be on purpose and one of the most meaningful periods of practice that you’ve ever had.

Remember, skills pay the bills.

For more information, visit L.E.A.D. Center for Youth today. Also, check out our Digital Magazine.

C.J. Stewart has built a reputation as one of the leading professional hitting instructors in the country. He is a former professional baseball player in the Chicago Cubs organization and has also served as an associate scout for the Cincinnati Reds. As founder and CEO of Diamond Directors Player Development, C.J. has more than 22 years of player development experience and has built an impressive list of clients, including some of the top young prospects in baseball today. If your desire is to change your game for the better, C.J. Stewart has a proven system of development and a track record of success that can work for you.