Philly has a real need in finding its youth more safe spots to play baseball

Jose Rivera stared from the mound toward his catcher, stepped back into his windup, and released his pitch. The batter hit a grounder to Rivera, a junior at Esperanza Academy Charter School, who threw him out at first base.

Esperanza Academy was facing Frankford High School on a sunny but breezy evening, perfect for playing baseball at Lighthouse Field in North Philadelphia.

“The better the field, the better the play,” Rivera said. “It really helps you as a player and makes you better.”

Lighthouse, tucked between a cemetery and St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, is no ordinary baseball field.

The diamond at East Erie Avenue and North Front Street in Juniata Park owes its groomed dirt and wooden fencing to a recent renovation by The Lighthouse, its namesake, an educational and cultural nonprofit in Kensington. It’s also funded in part by a $50,000 grant from Major League Baseball and the lawn care company Scotts.

Research has shown that sports can provide a productive outlet for young people, and with teenagers in the city advocating for more safe places to hang out, revitalizing baseball fields could be a key component of Philadelphia’s anti-violence strategy.

The sports complex, which also includes a basketball court and several smaller fields, has become a prime location for teams like Esperanza. Julian Makarechi, the director of sports and recreation for The Lighthouse, said a dozen other teams play there each season.

The field hosts regional teams while also running several baseball camps in the summer. About 1,000 kids participate in its programs.

“From what I can see and what we provide, it keeps on getting bigger and bigger every year,” Makarechi said.

In Juniata Park, where Lighthouse Field sits, 55.2% of children live below the poverty line. North Philly has 39 city-run baseball fields in varying conditions, while Northeast section of the city boasts 142, according to a Philadelphia Parks and Recreation cross-analysis of data and satellite imagery from June 2022.

MLB and Scotts selected Lighthouse Field, Makarechi said, for its size, central location, and history, which dates back to 1893. The field was even an occasional practice home for the Phillies during the 1940s.

The MLB-funded renovation brought new grass and a new sand diamond. The Lighthouse continues to maintain it with grants for which the organization applies each year, Makarechi said.

“A lot of our work is preventative,” Makarechi said. “We use sports as a vehicle to teach positive values to the community and [how to work] together as a team.”

Baseball and its players believe corporate funding has helped drive the success of baseball programs in other cities, like New York’s Harlem Little League.

In 2021, MLB announced a $150 million commitment to the nonprofit Players Alliance to invest in the growth of youth baseball in cities, aiming to “build more equitable systems in baseball and increase Black representation throughout the sport,” according to the press release.

The Phillies invest in youth baseball through two main programs in the area: the Junior RBI League teaches baseball fundamentals to inner-city kids from the ages of 6 to 12; and a more competitive RBI League for teens. In addition, the Phillies MLB Urban Youth Academy provides lessons at Marian Anderson Recreation Center and FDR Park in South Philadelphia.

Most of the fields in North Philly receive limited funding from the city, and with more than 200 baseball fields, some spots have fallen through the cracks.

“With such a large inventory and limited funding sources, there are many capital needs across the City’s parks and rec system,” said Maita Soukup, communications director for the City’s Parks and Recreation.

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During a recent visit to the baseball field at 20th and Tioga Streets, garbage covered parts of the field, rocks were scattered around the diamond, and overgrown grass in the outfield gave the appearance of a vacant lot.

“You travel around the city, you play at these different fields and they’re not well maintained,” said Mark Kikendall, athletic director at Esperanza. “It makes the game a struggle.”

Jamal Johnson, the president of Philadelphia’s TWS Tigers, a youth sports organization, said that accessibility is at the root of growing baseball for the Black community. It all begins with bringing the players and coaches out to playable facilities to introduce people of color to the game.

“We have to make sure the kids have something to do,” Johnson said. “Keeping them out of trouble, having somewhere for them to go and learn the sport.”

Temple journalism student Allison Beck contributed to this report.

Playing Fields, Not Killing Fields is an Inquirer collaboration with Temple’s Claire Smith Center for Sports Media and The Logan Center for Urban Investigative Reporting, to produce a series examining the current state of Philadelphia’s youth recreation infrastructure and programs. The project will explore the challenges and solutions to sports serving as a viable response to gun violence and an engine to revitalize city neighborhoods.