It’s officially springtime, and you know what that means: in addition to butterflies, sunshine and allergies, it’s time for baseball.
On Sunday, March 28, Loyal To My Soil, a Bay Area organization building community through baseball, offers a free baseball clinic. All young people age eight and older are welcome, from 11am–1pm, at the Carter Gilman Sports Complex’s Greenman Field in East Oakland.
Loyal To My Soil, founded by Oakland-bred professional ballplayers (and brothers) Tyson Ross and Joe Ross, threw its inaugural event earlier this year. The 40 young athletes in attendance received advice from seasoned former pros Shooty Babitt, Bip Roberts and legendary pitcher Vida Blue.
The goal of the series of clinics is to keep baseball alive in the minds of young folks in Oakland, where the history of baseball—specifically the history of Black baseball players—is one of the richest to be found in any city in America. Tyson Ross says the idea came to him last year, and with the assistance of national organizations like The Players Alliance, he sees it as a way to make a change in Oakland and beyond, both on and off of the diamond.
