Late on a Tuesday night, at the indoor baseball diamond at the University of Chicago, you’ll find dozens of dedicated high school athletes practicing hard with The Show Baseball traveling team.
Kyrent Cole is a senior student athlete who points out that "other organizations are not out here doing what we’re doing right now."
"They’re probably at home sleeping, or on their games or something like that. We out here working," he said.
The South Side developmental program started in 2016 with Ernest Radcliffe and his son Kendall. Both played professional ball - Ernest with the Cardinals and Kendall with the Rangers. They’re among the coaches passing along their real-life knowledge to young men.
"This IS history," Kendall Radcliffe said. "You don’t see a lot of Black-owned baseball teams, you don’t see a lot of Black baseball teams. It’s very important to me and my dad to have this program and share with the 50 or 60 kids that we have."
Ernest Radcliffe adds that "there’s not a lot of African Americans playing."
"In the world series? No African Americans. Guys who leave the game, get mad at the game for being released, they should really be going back to communities giving something back," he said.
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And that is exactly what these men are doing.
Angelo Burrage is a coach and former player at St. Rita High School. H
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"I played at a high level, went to St Rita High School, played one year at Illinois State and finished one year at St. Joseph College," he said. "When I went to Rita, I was the only Black kid on the team."
"The majority of teams I played on, I was the only Black," he added. "We can play just as good as anybody else, and just goes to show we have 40 or 50 young Black men that could be anywhere right now. They’re here on a school night, getting the work in to get to the next level."
Andrew Crenshaw is a student athlete with The Show Baseball team and describes his experience positively.
"Black and minority baseball players aren’t usually talked about as much," he said. "Us being on the South Side, some people have reputations. But us being here and coming during Black History Month and play baseball. It really just takes away the narrative that’s shown around Black people. And we’re showing everybody that we can be a lot more and achieve the same things everyone else can."
In fact, Ernest grew up learning from his fabled uncles, Ted ‘Double Duty’ Radcliffe and Alec Radcliffe. Both played in the Negro Leagues.
The Show Baseball mantra is “scholars in the classroom, athletes on the field and men of good character in life."
"Everybody's not going to make it to the pros, but this game teaches you time management, discipline, hard work, how to deal with pressure or failure," Burrage said.
Kendall Radcliffe is excited when he looks out onto the field.
"You never know who we might have out here," he said. "Next doctor, lawyer, Major League Baseball player... we just want to prepare our kids for the future."
