On June 12th, the Amateur Baseball Report (ABR) began a campaign to help underserved youth in urban areas. ABR teamed up the MLBPA (Major League Baseball Players Association) to put on a completely free clinic in downtown Miami, Florida. This is the first of three camps already scheduled with the MLBPA for the summer; which includes Denver on August 14th and San Diego on August 6th. The ABR worked vigorously to staff, facilitate, lunch, and fill the event. In the end, it turned out to be a great success with numerous underprivileged kids leaving with smiles on their faces. The camp consisted of an instructional clinic, a question and answer session with the players, as well as a meet and greet/ lunch with the players. The Marlins working the camp were Heath Bell, Donnie Murphy, Chris Coghlan, John Buck, and Brett Hayes. Luis Alicea, Tito Frias, and Charles Johnson were the MLB veterans who came out to work the camp.

Mike Moyzis of the Amateur Baseball Report explained, “It was extremely rewarding to take part in the event, Seeing the kids so passionate about the game and excited to attend something like this was just great. It was also nice to see how happy the MLB players were to be able to give back.”

The various groups whom ABR reached out to were pleased with the outcome. On the day of the event some of the groups even contacted ABR to tell them how well it was going for the kids.

“It gave the children the opportunity to learn the game of baseball by professionals especially since they are not surrounded by these athletes on a daily basis...I received emails from the ecstatic parents,” explains Jason Magrisso from the South Florida All-Stars.

Nancy Ramon, who gathered players from various inner city teams including Tropical Park describes her experience with the event. “It was a very great experience for the kids they had a lot of involvement with the players and the people that were their teaching them it was very important to get the extra exercise in the summer since they no longer have P.E. Overall it was a very good experience for them!”

“The kids really enjoyed themselves, and it gave them the chance to see a new perspective of life. It let them see that there are more things than football and basketball. The kids enjoyed hearing where they came from and the players life struggles,”explained Willy Johnson of the Miami Dade Parks and Recreation.

Alex Delgado of the MYBA was also upbeat about the outcome of the event.“It was a very good time, Charles Johnson did a good job. Anytime we can get a couple of big leaguers to come and speak to the children it is a blessing. It was a good feeling to see the children's faces light up, when those guys showed up.”

With the event now complete, ABR was extremely grateful for getting the opportunity to help with the camp, and are looking forward to the future camps.

ABR would like to give a special thank you to all of the organizations who came out with their kids and of course a special thank you to the professional players for giving their time for a great cause.