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Red Sox Foundation, South End Baseball sending three to Japan by Bessie King
MySouthEnd.com ContributorThursday Apr 23, 2009 Three players of the Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) South End Baseball (SEB) youth teams will travel to Japan in the summer to play some friendly matches against the country’s best 12- to 14-year-old players. Cruz Santana of Roslindale, Winston Guerrero of Roxbury, and Brandon Ruiz of Jamaica Plain are part of a 12-player team assembled by the Red Sox Foundation.
The chance to visit a new continent came thanks to the Red Sox and Japan Society’s Youth Baseball Exchange, which brings a youth team from one continent to the other to play against locals in the summer months. This year it is Boston’s turn to visit Japan with a team of 12- to 14-year-olds.
"The selection process was based on an application and references and later on a try-out," said Meg Vaillancourt, executive director of the Red Sox Foundation. "We are looking for kids who are not just great baseball players but who are comfortable going halfway across the world and serve as good cultural ambassadors."
The players selected are some of the best players in city leagues. Over 250 teenage boys applied to be one of the 12 chosen. All applicants filled the official forms, provided school transcripts and wrote two essays about why they would like to play in and visit Japan. Only 25 finalists were selected to participate in a baseball clinic and interview where the top 12 were picked.
"I wrote about how this would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, I couldn’t believe it when I found out I was chosen and I am excited to see the country. I am kind of nervous too and expecting a long flight," said Santana, who added that the place he wants to see the most is the Tokyo Dome.
Funai, a global electronics company from Japan, and Millennium Pharmaceuticals, a Cambridge company, sponsor the trip. The 12 young men will receive flights, meals and tours across the country and will stay with host families to learn about Japanese culture firsthand.
"The host families are selected by the foundation and some of them participated with the program last year sending their own kids so they are excited to have our Boston players visit," said Vaillancourt. "Everyone is talking about how we are part of a global community and how we must work together. By using the power of baseball we can show these kids that although their cultures are different and they are at opposite corners of the world, they have a common language, a bridge, and they can try to step up to the plate and start serving the world at a young age."
Derek Fields, head coach for the 16-year-old South End Astros and Indians teams, has coached Santana and Ruiz since they were five-years-old. He said the choice to place them on the team is not very surprising.
"They are two of the best 14-year-olds we have in our league. Brian is a very good pitcher and Poncho [Cruz’s nickname] is a great hitter. For all the hard work they have done since they were five, things are finally paying off," said Fields.
SEB won last year’s city baseball championship. Players usually start training at a young age in surrounding towns like Jamaica Plain, Roxbury, Roslindale, and Dorchester. When they turn 14 many players try to join SEB at trials and play for what Fields labeled, "one of the best teams in the city."
The team of 12 will leave for Japan on July 30 and return on August 13. In the meantime, the Red Sox Foundation is preparing the young players with monthly meetings, which started in March. At these half-day-long meetings the participants learn basic Japanese phrases and cultural traditions, eat Japanese foods for lunch, and participate in training sessions to fine-tune their skills. All activities are meant to make the young men comfortable and aware of the country they will visit while representing Red Sox Nation. For some of the players this trip is the start to make their dreams a reality.
"I want to pay professional baseball when I am older so this will be a great experience to learn more," said Ruiz. "In my essay I wrote about the change I went through when I transferred from Boston Latin to Summer School and how baseball played a role in my life and in the culture change, sports lets people learn from one another."
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