If the past couple of years are any indication, by the time Major League Baseball’s annual All-Star Game is played in Philadelphia in 2026, the City of Brotherly Love should be awash, if not overwhelmed, by the largesse of MLB, the hometown hosting Phillies, national players organizations and their union, corporate sponsors, and civil servants.
The youngsters of North Philadelphia, like children everywhere, need and deserve safe spaces to laugh, play, and grow. Yet, as shown in a series of articles written for The Inquirer by the students from Temple University’s Center for Urban Investigative Reporting, the public swimming pools closed during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2019-21 were slow to reopen in the neighborhoods that dearly needed them.
“It was amazing to see how fast Black players came together to do more than just post something on social,” TPA cofounder Curtis Granderson said in a telephone interview this spring.
Fifty-two years later, it’s hard to find any locals of any age playing where the A’s, Phillies and the Negro League Stars once stood. If the highly publicized baseball initiatives are all about growing the game and creating safe places, good for them. But where are the children’s leagues north of Market Street? Where is the excitement of, say, Little League ball, the late-summer festival in Williamsport, Pa.
“A couple of years ago, someone reached out and she and I talked several times about perhaps starting a team in the 20th and Hunting Park area, but it did not happen,” Maher said. “We’d be more than happy if someone wanted to start a league up there. We’d offer start-up instructions, equipment, and advice on how to run a league. Believe me, I am a big believer in getting kids to play.
Just for a moment, though, imagine that daily reality of North Philly is your life. Perhaps, instead of numbers, just think of the human toll that might result without fruitful activities for kids. His career was pockmarked by drug addiction, a lifestyle he counsels against when meeting with youth and organizations in this chapter of his life. He battled through cancer while still a player. He also played on three championship teams. It certainly would be an eerietwist to see if the turbulent Mets would have won in 1986 if there was never a Darryl Strawberry to draft in 1980.
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