Yadier Molina Field One Year Later
One year ago today St. Louis Cardinals Care dedicated the Yadier Molina Field in Wellson, Missouri — located on the NW corner of Plymouth Ave & Stephen Jones Ave (aerial). I passed by the field on April 9th on the #94 (Page) MetroBus so after getting off the bus I went to have a closer look.
How can anyone use the field with high grass and weeds between bases? The field looked much different a year ago when dedicated (see KMOX images). Wellston’s population is over 90% African-American, don’t they love baseball? Last Sunday marked the anniversary of Jackie Robinson integrating the game.
The African-American population in baseball this season has plummeted to 8.05%, less than half the 17.25% in 1959 when the Boston Red Sox became the last team to integrate their roster, 12 years after Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
It’s a dramatic decline from 1975, when 27% of rosters were African-American. In 1995, the percentage was 19%. (USA Today)
Just building a nice new baseball field may not be enough to get today’s African-American youth interested in the game.
I thought it was possible since my visit on the 9th that Cardinals Care arrived to get the field ready for play in 2012 so I went back out two days ago on Tuesday the 17th to check the status.
I should point out I have no idea who is responsible for maintaing the field in playable condition, my presumption is Cardinals Care. The City of Wellston doesn’t have the money.
– Steve Patterson
My understanding is that these are one-time grants and that maintenance is local responsibility: http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/community/btf_faq.jsp
This may just be another example of throwing money at a problem, without a long-term, integrated plan for success. Fields like these make for great photo ops for the pro teams, but do require ongoing maintenance, which doesn’t create the same photo ops.
Chicken and Egg issue here, I have never seen an organized or pick-up game played on any of these fields. Is there any athletic league linked to these fields, I don’t think the CYC or YMCA plays their T-ball or baseball games here that would be a start. Are pick-up games even permitted on these fields? They look so planned that I would just assume no, but perhaps that is not the case. Same with the Ballpark Village softball field, can I just go out at lunch with a buddy and hit some batting practice? If it was open for play (and that was made clear) it would see some activity, but if no organized league is tied to field and no one knows how to get permission to play on the field, then what was it built for in the first place? Just window dressing.
I personally see no reason to (or not to) motivate the AA community or any other community to develop or renew an interest in participating in any activity, whether it be a sport or a club, or whatever. If the interest develops, let it happen. If it doesn’t, let it not happen. I recently read that football is the sport of choice among the AA community. The potential for big/fast money is the primary motivator here, I”m fairly sure. I was recently in Daphne, AL for a business meeting and I dropped in on an afternoon intermural baseball game in which AA and non-AA kids were seemingly enjoying the game. The complex they were playing in was certainly not as well-appointed as the Molina field, but the kids’ proficiency was apparent. The complex was located on the grounds of a private high school, one especially well known for academic achievement, no-nonsense discipline, and (obviously)successful placement after gradulation in some of the nation’s better-recognized universities. Fancy digs probably isn’t the chief factor when evaluating both AA and non-AA baseball interest. Maybe some of the best motivation for baseball results from exposure to a more grounded, renaissance based life experience/lifestyle where the sport is only part of the developmental process, where family values, tough academic challenges, and personal responsibility are all part of the equation.
While it has little athletic value, baseball can be instrumental in building teamwork and social skills in children. In that regard it’s to bad that this field has been left to rot. That said, if the community has no ability to keep it up then all it amounts to is a feel good project for a group of millionaires.
This park development had a number of sponsors over the past 10 years, but yes the City of Wellston is the owner of record for most of the property (although St. Louis County Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority has title to the SE corner of the park site). The addresses are 6303 Plymouth (County parcel) and 6335 Plymouth (Wellston parcel). When I worked for the now defunct Greater St. Louis Regional Empowerment Zone, we had a ground breaking for the ball field probably in 2005 or ’06, I think. I know St. Louis County Economic Council (which staffs the County LCRA much like SLDC staffs the City LCRA) was the main driving force behind development of this park. But, in the long run, the Council can only do so much — it’s still up to the local municipalities to take on the challenge of maintenance.
That said, have you seen how tall the grass is in River des Peres Park lately? I think they’re getting out there with a tractor and whacking it down one section at a time, but I guess since I walk my dogs along the bike trail there several times a week and drive by it almost daily, it really made an impression. I am surprised the immediate neighbors put up with it — in fact, I noticed some of them cut the parts adjacent their own houses/businesses — without waiting for the city to do it. Interesting. (For example, the house at the NW corner of Loughborough and RdP, and the entryway to the Park Forest Apartments on Poinciana Blvd.)
one $15 basketball vs. 1 $15 bat, 9 $15 gloves, 9 $15 helmets, 1 $5 baseball plus field maintenance. I’m black and I love baseball and I love my Cards, but I’m not sure why people are so concerned with renewing the game among African-Americans. Judging by the condition of this field, this “effort” seems insincere at best. But hey, at least St. Louis produced Ryan Howard right? South Americans and other foreigners have filled in just fine and my interest in the game hasn’t waned.
I don’t see pick-up baseball games anywhere, do kids still play on the Hill? I’d much rather repair the horrible condition our basketball courts are in.
And another thing to consider, perhaps most important, is the blight that exists in these neighborhoods. Kids get bussed to different schools in different places, it takes a lot of effort to make friends in these environments. Only when you see kids walking to school together, having gym together, playing at recess together, will you see pick-up baseball/basketball/football in these neighborhoods.
I think my own son’s generation is going to miss out on the good old pickup game and sad for it. My neighborhood played sports by the season; it didn’t matter as kids who you were or how good you were or what the game was as long as you wanted to play. Today everything is organized and just as important, kids don’t necessarily know each other in their very own neighborhoods.
We just wanted to play the game and if the game ended with a fight, while, you forget about it the next day because you still want to play the game for the sake of game and none of us were going anywhere. It was pickup baseball in spring/summer, football in the fall with a few snowball games after the first winter storm (flag/touch football if we got a few girls to play) along with basketball from the time a court was cleared of snow in the spring until the next winter and especially if you didn’t have enough people for baseball or football (one on one and you got a pickup game).
http://vimeo.com/40530470 their basketball courts are sooo much nicer than ours — D-Wade pick up game in SoHo (no surprise)
@Tpekren, yeah those days are gone for now, everyone has a goal in their driveway, the suburbs didn’t plan for baseball diamonds, b-ball courts, and football fields. Maybe as the city comes back so will the days where kids play outside.
Channel 4 News did a story on this today, and the city guy said the grass would be cut within the next week . . . .
The park is supposed to be a St. Vincent Greenway amenity, but rain on a fertilized field runs off right into Engelholm Creek without much of a riparian buffer between. It doesn’t serve the needs of the greenway.