Black Baseball Initiative brings youth groups to Cooperstown
As the Hall of Fame and Museum continues preparations for its new Black baseball exhibit, The Souls of the Game: Voices of Black Baseball, scheduled to open in the spring of 2024, the Museum has already begun to deliver programs that are part of the Museum’s ongoing Black Baseball Initiative.
On Monday, July 10, the Museum hosted a visit by a Syracuse, NY, organization called the Youth Enrichment Outreach Program (YEOP). For more than 25 years, YEOP has provided programs throughout the inner city of Syracuse to help youth build self-esteem and allow them to improve their lives through youth sports and educational programming. The group was the first to take advantage of the Museum’s program to fund visits to Cooperstown for students from low-income communities in Upstate New York.
When the Museum presented the opportunity to Melvin Triche, the president of YEOP, he jumped at the opportunity for the young people participating in their programs. “This is the first time that many of these kids have been outside of the City of Syracuse. To visit Cooperstown and the National Baseball Hall of Fame will help them understand there is a bigger world full of opportunity out there,” Triche said in reflecting on the opportunity.
Thanks to a two-year support commitment from NBT Bank, the group from YEOP is the first of many groups from Upstate New York communities that will have the opportunity to spend a day at the Museum. “I am honored that we can help these students learn more about the Civil Rights Movement and Black history through the lens of baseball,” NBT Bank President and CEO John H. Watt, Jr. said.
The 32 YEOP participants received an initial welcome from officials with NBT Bank, which supplied a grant that covered transportation from Syracuse while also supplying a nutritious lunch and a take-home goodie bag.
The students then took part in an educational tour with the Hall of Fame’s teaching staff. The tour highlighted numerous exhibits within the three floors of the museum, while placing special emphasis on artifacts and displays centered on the theme of civil rights and baseball.
The youth participants then engaged in one of the Hall of Fame’s educational units, known as Communication Arts: “Going, Going, Gone,” which teaches students about communications arts. Taught in the Hall of Fame Library’s Bullpen Theater, the unit gives students a chance to recreate the radio broadcast of Hank Aaron’s historic 715th home run from April 8, 1974. As part of the interactive program, the YEOP students read from a prepared script, while creating special sound effects and mimicking crowd noise and other ballpark sounds, as they relived one of the game’s most treasured milestone moments.
To conclude the visit to Cooperstown, the group entered the Hall’s Grandstand Theater, where they watched the short film, “Generations of the Game.” The film features commentary from more than 20 Hall of Famers, along with several current day major league stars, each discussing the importance of the game on a personal level. The film also highlights some of the most memorable moments in baseball history while touching upon the game’s significance within popular culture.
“From the bus trip through the farmland of Central New York, to recreating the call for Hank Aaron’s historic 715th home run during our visit, to the goodie bag the kids got to take home, it was an amazing day for these kids,” said Triche after the visit. “We look forward to bringing another group of kids in August!”
The educational visit by the YEOP group is the first of many Cooperstown field trips that are part of the Hall of Fame’s Black Baseball Initiative that includes additional outreach programs, educational materials, virtual programming and a new exhibit opening in Spring of 2024. The Initiative is made possible by the Yawkey Foundation with additional support from Bill Janetschek in honor of his siblings Robert and Ann, the Anthony A. Yoseloff Foundation and the Bisignano Family.
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