The Cleveland Guardians’ impact on the community goes beyond the games at Progressive Field. Director of Community Impact Raphael Collins oversees 40 programs that touch about 40,000 youth throughout Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. The programs are for those as young as 10-years-old through college age.
“It doesn’t matter what your skill level is, what your gender and what language you speak, we have an offering, if you want to play baseball or softball we have a program that you can play today for free in a community nearby you,” said Collins.
He’s worked for the Guardians for 16 years in a variety of roles. He attributes part of his success to involvement in one of those programs.
“For me growing up in the City of Cleveland, honestly, RBI was my first exposure in team sports outside of my neighborhood,” said Collins. “We all needed these programs they kept us outside; they kept us active, physical play bit it also taught us life skills that we didn’t even understand at the time.”
Collins said he sees portions of himself in every kid the organization serves. Leon Jones is one of them. The 19-year-old is the Larry Doby intern this season. He’s a sophomore at Kent State University.
“I was 16 years old when I got into the RBI program and then by the time I finished, I had just turned 18,” said Jones. "Just seeing all the coaches and all the staff being there, I never would have thought that I would have the opportunity to be on the other side of that… [and] hopefully being able to interact with kids, kids my age back then, and just help them get to where I am today.”
Jones called it a full-circle moment that means a lot to him.
To learn more about all Cleveland Guardians youth baseball, softball, and adaptive programs, visit cleguardians.com/youthbaseball
