Westside Story Newspaper – Online The News of The Empire – Sharing the Quest for Excellence
RICHMOND, VA– The Metropolitan Junior Baseball League (MJBL) will present its 33rd Annual Inner City Classic and Black World Series starting on July 30 in Washington, DC. The country’s oldest continuous, national inner city baseball tournament will begin its competition at Maury Wills Field in the Nation’s Capital at 6 pm after their 20th Annual Bobby Bonds Memorial Symposium at the Congressional Auditorium on Capitol Hill.
The symposium, hosted by representative Jennifer McClellan (VA- 5 district), is a think tank on how baseball and education can improve the lives of African Americans and their communities. Congressman Donald Davis (NC- 1st district) is a member of the Democratic Congressional Baseball team and will also bring remarks to the audience. Justin Journette, the Norfolk State University slugger, will be presented with his plaque from the Black College Nines as they named him the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Most Valuable Baseball Player.
Journette’s power is well known by MJBL followers as he played in the Classic and won the home run derby last year. Also during the program, Evan Smith, who played with MJBL last year, will make a monetary check presentation to the league from the non-profit organization he started in Maryland called Equal Shot 4 All. Smith started the organization to make funds available to less fortunate youth so they can experience the fun, excitement and life lessons the game provided him.
The event is already receiving national attention, with Charlie Wells commenting about it. Wells, who played catcher for the Philadelphia Stars in the Negro Leagues, was one of the players Major League Baseball honored in Birmingham at Rickwood Field said, “There are no African American catchers in the majors today. It’s extremely disappointing to see the steadfast decline of our young people in the game. I’m pleased that MJBL is going to Capitol Hill to champion this issue and make the public aware of their awesome work in the black community.” Wells will have two great nephews out of Virginia participating in the Classic.
Panelists for the Capitol Hill Symposium are former MLB player and manager Dusty Baker via Zoom, Paxton Baker, Washington Nationals minority owner, Sonja Stills, Commissioner of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, David James, VP of Baseball and Softball Development for MLB, Jarvis Stewart, founding partner of the Washington Nationals, and Ricky Clemons, a Howard University professor. The symposium and games are free and open to the public. Details for broadcasting and streaming will be provided later for those unable to attend in person.
