Kansas City, Kan., RBI team heads to World Series in Texas this week

When the final out was made at the Central RBI Regional Tournament at Miller Park in Milwaukee, Cle Ross felt all the hard work and dedication pay off.

“To see parents and kids crying tears of joy, and to see young men that we connected through the game of baseball that will now be lifelong friends hugging each other — just that moment, to work so hard to get to where we got to, it was gratifying,” said Ross, executive director of the Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) program from Kansas City, Kan.

KCK’s “Support Towards Inner City Kids” (STICKS) senior team will compete in the first RBI World Series since the local chapter of the Major League Baseball-sponsored program was formed in 2009. Comprised of 16- to 18-year-olds, the team will travel to Arlington, Texas for the tournament, which starts Wednesday and runs through Aug. 17, attend a Rangers game and meet MLB commissioner Bud Selig, along with former and current Rangers players.

Tournament games will be played on fields around the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and the championship series will be played at the Rangers’ Globe Life Park in Arlington. Eight teams have qualified for the RBI Senior World Series from as far away as Venezuela and the Dominican Republic; there are separate eight-team World Series for Juniors (age 13-15) and softball.

Dave Gavel, head coach of the STICKS senior team, said he knew his squad would be competitive this season.

“We worked hard on trying to get more quality baseball in Kansas City, Kan. and we knew that we had a lot of pitching,” he said. “I kind of did expect to do well because of the kind of pitching that we had.”

Although the KCK RBI chapter played its first game in 2010, the real story began before Ross was in high school, growing up in Wellington, Kan.

Ross and his brother grew up in a single-parent household. When his mother could no longer afford to keep their cable on, the local cable company owner didn’t turn it off — he knew the family’s situation. Ross soon began finding sports equipment left in bags on his doorstep; equipment he and his brother needed to participate in football, baseball and wrestling, but things his family could not afford.

It wasn’t until Ross graduated from high school that he found out it was the same man who had kept the cable on.

“For a guy that didn’t have his own sons … he kind of took us under his wing as some sons from a distance and did what he could do to help without really wanting credit for it,” Ross said. “I made a commitment and a promise to myself when I was that age, that if I was ever in a position where I could do that, I would do it.”

After high school, Ross attended Kansas City Community College where he was a walk-on for the baseball team. He later received a scholarship to play at North Central Missouri College. After a year there, he received another scholarship and finished his college career at the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

It was baseball, Ross said, that gave him the opportunity to further his education.

He signed with the Texas Rangers after college and played for one year in their minor-league system before deciding to end his baseball career and begin one of the biggest undertakings of his life.

His goal was to revive the abandoned Wyandotte County 3&2 ballpark. That’s when he created the Success Achieved in Future Environments (SAFE) organization, the non-profit through which KCK RBI is operated.

Ross originally sent kids who wanted to play in the RBI league, an initiative created by MLB to provide youth from underserved communities the chance to play baseball and softball, to the team in Missouri.

But after hearing from parents who wanted games played in Kansas, he sought recognition from MLB and the league granted SAFE an RBI affiliation in 2009.

“I knew if I could introduce this to inner-city children, it would be a vehicle they could use not only to get out of the neighborhoods and the environment that they were growing up in, but also a vehicle that they could use to become educated,” Ross said. “That’s our ultimate goal.”

While MLB doesn’t provide funding, Ross said the local league benefits from opportunities that come along with being associated with MLB — like baseball clinics with the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation.

The STICKS teams are what Ross calls the league’s All-Star teams. They are made up of the best players in each age group from around the KCK RBI program.

One of the requirements that Ross has implemented in the KCK RBI league is that kids who want to participate have to bring a grade report with them. While they don’t have to have a certain GPA to play, Ross wants to show them that someone cares enough about their grades to help them fix poor ones.

The league has teamed up with Kansas City Kansas Community College to provide mentors and tutors to children who need them. The league has gone from an average GPA of 1.9 to 2.6, Ross said.

Still, Ross admits the years have been tough. The biggest challenge has been finding a place to play as he continues to seek funds to renovate WYCO 3&2.

“We don’t have any running water, we don’t have any electricity, so we have the most historic ballpark in the city of Kansas (City),” he said. “But it’s in the worst shape of any ballpark that you can dream of.”

Still, the kids show up to play.

Gavel’s son, Jacob, won the RBI for RBI Scholarship two years ago. He now attends the University of Central Missouri.

Gavel, who started coaching with RBI on the KCMO RBI team in 1993, remembers when the KCK RBI league had just 45 players. Now there are more than 800.

Ross said he hopes a trip the World Series will spur more fundraising. He also hopes the experience will have a lasting effect on the young men who make the trip.

“Hopefully, this trip can impact at least one young man on our team that puts them into a position that when we get back, they say, ‘You know what? I can do it. I can go to college. I’m willing to do what it takes to put in the hard work, to make this type of environment a reality,’” Ross said. “To me, that’s what it’s all about.”

This story was originally published August 4, 2014 at 4:07 PM with the headline "Kansas City, Kan., RBI team heads to World Series in Texas this week."