MLB players pitch in to help neighborhood
Community with role in civil rights history aided
A coalition of Black Major League Baseball players joined a Black-led emergency response organization to bring a food pantry, COVID-19 resources and baseball gear to a church in a downtown Phoenix neighborhood known for its role in local civil rights history on Wednesday.
The Players Alliance and Pull Up Neighbor visited Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church in the area of Eastlake Park as part of their cross-country tour through communities of color disproportionately affected by the pandemic.
The event began at 1 p.m., with at least three dozen cars already lined up to receive their packages.
Four by four, they pulled up in front of the huge, sleek tour truck blaring music. The volunteers, including at least 20 current and former MLB players, danced along in masks as they loaded trunks. Each car received bags containing hygiene products and masks, boxes of food provided by St. Mary’s Food Bank, Arizona Diamondbacks merchandise and baseball mitts and bats.
The event’s intent was to be “a social distanced block party,” said Pull Up Neighbor founder Anthony Holt.
Players Alliance was formed in 2020 amid nationwide protests for racial justice to increase equity and diversity within baseball, according to its website. Pull Up Neighbor was also
created during this time to provide immediate and direct assistance to the communities in most need during the coronavirus pandemic.
Dozens of players give back in historically Black area of Phoenix
The crowd of volunteers grew throughout the day in Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church’s spacious parking lot. Located in Eastlake Park near downtown Phoenix, a focal point of Black history in the Valley and the home of late civil rights leader Calvin C. Goode, the church has long been a pillar of the neighborhood.
Hosting the Players Alliance and Pull Up Neighbor was an opportunity to “instill hope” in their community, said the Rev. Terry E. Mackey.
“There is a reason baseball players do not have two gloves when they are playing: You ought to receive with one, and then you ought to throw back the other,” the pastor said to the several dozen athletes gathered in the lot, each donning a black mask adorned with the Players Alliance logo. “God has blessed you, and now you are able to give back.”
Edwin Jackson, a founding member of Players Alliance, said they hope to not only bring needed resources to communities across the country but also the sport of baseball.
Jackson helped create the Players Alliance to provide Black athletes in baseball a forum to talk freely about issues of racial justice within the sport following the police killing of George Floyd in May 2020. Jackson is a current MLB free agent and resident of Phoenix for the past six years.
The alliance quickly gained momentum after a group of MLB players agreed to sit out games in protest of injustice and donate their game checks to invest in the Black Lives Matter cause over the summer. They raised a total of $1 million, and the MLB decided to match this and donate an additional $1 million worth of baseball equipment.
These donations inspired their two-month tour focusing on Black communities, beginning in New York in December. Phoenix is their second-to-last stop, as their trip through California was canceled due to recent restrictions amid the state’s COVID-19 surge.
“This is our way of giving back to communities,” said Jackson.
Phoenix’s stop saw the most players in attendance during the tour by far, said Pull Up Neighbor logistics director Dessie Brown. Metro Phoenix hosts the MLB Spring Training Cactus League next month.
A socially distanced block party
Cars continued to line up through the afternoon, community members eager to meet players and receive supplies.
“I feel a lot of love,” said Jessica Dudley from the driver’s seat of her car. She laughed as players danced around the back to load her trunk. “It’s so important to come out and feel the love of one another.”
Rhoshawndra Carnes, director of family services at Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church and who facilitated the collaboration among the various organizations, looked on to the scene of volunteers and community members mingling.
“To see the players here, everyone coming together to bless the community, it’s huge,” she said. “This is important because people are in need. They are in need of food, they are in need of those COVID-19 resources, and it’s a blessing they’re able to get equipment to those young boys and girls who are out here today.”