Home runs and history

“Pass it back!” The chorus echoed throughout the bus as about 30 children from Columbia’s First Ward passed water bottles and powdered donuts to those seated in the back.

It was going to be a long day.

The group was headed to Kansas City for a field trip to see the Royals’ “Salute to the Negro League Day” baseball game last Sunday, hosted by the First Ward Ambassadors, a mentoring and leadership group in central Columbia.

The ambassadors’ goal was for the youth to learn about the past contributions of blacks to sports and to take part in new opportunities that otherwise might not be accessible.

“All our kids see is Columbia—the area that they live in. Some haven’t even been to the south side of the city,” said Tracy Edwards, a First Ward ambassador. “We want to give them the same type of opportunities their counterparts have.”

The event, which launched from the Douglass High School parking lot at 10 a.m., was funded by two mid-Missouri legislators, Rep. Judy Baker, D-Columbia, and Sen. Chuck Graham, D-Columbia, and Rep. Michael Brown, D-Kansas City.

About 30 children and young teens took the chartered bus to Kauffman Stadium, where they were treated to free seats as the Royals took on the Minnesota Twins. After the game, everyone got a coupon to spend at McDonald’s.

“It should be a good lesson in history,” Nathan Stephens, spokesman for the ambassadors, said a few days before the trip.

For Sunday’s game, the Royals donned the light-yellow vintage uniform of the 1948 Kansas City Monarchs, the longest running franchise in Negro League history.

The Monarchs won more than a dozen Negro League Championships, which gave them a reputation similar to the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball. After the color barrier was broken in the 1946-47 season, when Monarchs player Jackie Robinson signed and debuted with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Monarchs franchise sent the most players into Major League baseball. The names Satchel Paige, Ernie Banks and Hank Thompson, former Monarchs players, are still known today.

The opposing Minnesota Twins wore the 1908 navy blue uniform of the St. Paul Gophers, another Negro League team.

The excitement level was high as Kauffman Stadium came into sight.

Jawaun “Dre” Alexander, 11, found out about the trip on Thursday when he had a baseball game at Douglass Park. Dre plays centerfield for the Eagles, a coach-pitch team. Because his father lives in Moberly, Dre often plays catch with his mother, who he says is his role model.

Glenn Cobbins, a First Ward ambassador, sees this as a time for boys who may not have male mentors to bond with positive role models. It also gives busy mothers a break.

“A lot of the kids came here from a situation where parents have to work, and they might not have the time to take them to a game like this,” Cobbins said. “The trip also gives them a chance to make and hang out with friends.”

Sharbee Jones, 14, is an eighth-grader who came on the trip with his cousins. Because Sharbee was 7 when his father died, he enjoys the male camaraderie.

“It’s hard because there are some things you can’t talk to your mom about; I know that’s what my dad should be for,” Sharbee said. Later, he and his cousins sat at the McDonald’s joking after their first Royals game.

At another table, off-duty Columbia police Officer Mike Hayes sat with some of the First Ward ambassadors. He tries to be a presence in the community when he’s not in uniform. Today, Hayes’ focus was on corralling the groups of children and bonding with his son.

“I was just hoping to get out of the house and watch baseball,” said John Hayes, 13.

The group sat in section 141, bouncing beach balls, waving at the seventh-inning stretch and laughing at the “kiss cam,” along with other Royals fans. They left in the eighth inning and, even though the Royals went on to lose 3-2, the game offered memorable highlights.

“The best part was Mike Sweeney hitting a home run,” Dre said.

As they filed out of the stadium, the kids were still chanting, “Let’s go, Royals!” and waving their souvenir bats and giant foam fingers. Aside from complaints about the stinky bus bathroom, the trip was a success.

“It’s not about him, it’s not about me, it’s about the kids,” Cobbins said, underscoring the group effort of the First Ward Ambassadors.

“The ambassadors had a dream of taking the kids to this baseball game,” said Rhonda Garland, who works as the legislative assistant for Rep. Brown. She took the ambassadors’ ideas from a Black Men United meeting, a follow-up to the State of Black Men in Columbia Conference, and used her connections to help put the trip into swing.

“It’s an affirmation of the commitment we made at last month’s conference,” Stephens said.

The First Ward Ambassadors are taking strides to become a visible positive force in the community. Group members expect the children representing the First Ward to act with honor and respect for all people and in a dignified manner.

But Stephens, summing up the group’s rules of behavior, drew cheers on the bus when he mentioned “the last rule”: “When you’re hanging with the ambassadors, have fun!”