2nd Annual Celebrity T-Ball Game

The Whitecaps Community Foundation is proud to announce it has teamed up again with the Fifth Third Bank, Meijer, the YMCA, and Grand Rapids Parks and Recreation for its annual Give-a-Glove Drive for the Inner-City Youth Baseball League.  The campaign will kick-off with a brief press conference held at Ted Rasberry Field on May 16 at 4:00 pm. There will also be a celebrity T-ball game which will include media personalities, local baseball legends, community leaders and kids from the Inner City Youth Baseball league. 

The celebrity T-ball game is open to the public and will feature the following:

• Petting Zoo
• Face Painting
• Balloon Twisters
• Hot dogs, chips, & soda
• Bounce House

The Inner-City Baseball/Softball program is a free program for inner-city youth ages 6-14 that holds games at seven neighborhood parks—Riverside Park, Richmond Park, Sibley Elementary, Aberdeen Park, Ted Rasberry Park, Plaster Creek Park, and Martin Luther King Park. The program has grown from 384 children in its first year to over 1,200 participants in 2017.

Along with the children, the program saw over 60 coaches volunteer over 1,758 hours of their time. Kids and families are also served free meals on game nights. This program has been impacting the lives of kids through baseball and softball for 24 years.

The league provides inner-city youth with a safe, structured activity, positive values, and opportunities to build self-esteem and self-confidence.  To encourage families and neighbors to participate in the program, games are played at neighborhood ballparks.