Royals hold baseball clinic at park where Jackie statue was stolen

KANSAS CITY -- When the Jackie Robinson statue standing outside McAdams Park in Wichita, Kan., was stolen in January, national support from Major League Baseball, all 30 MLB clubs and individuals came pouring into League 42, the local youth baseball league for which the statue was built.

There was so much support for the statue and the league, which is a nonprofit organization aimed at helping kids in the area play baseball, that executive director Bob Lutz was simultaneously grateful and overwhelmed.

“We started this in Wichita, which is obviously not a Major League city, and to get that attention and notoriety has been challenging, to say the least,” Lutz said. “But the statue theft shined a light on us that has never been shined before. And some of the things that are coming our way are unimaginable. For that, we’re extremely grateful. We certainly would never want to go through this again, but it’s been made a lot easier by the support.”

Donations to the league and the announcement that MLB and its clubs would be replacing the bronze sculpture -- with the new installation set to take place in August -- highlighted the support Lutz received. But among all of that was a new relationship created between the Royals and League 42, which was named after Robinson’s number with the Dodgers. Kansas City will always have a connection to Robinson, who played for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues before his Dodgers debut.

“Because of that connection, and Wichita being in our footprint, we said, ‘We need to figure out how to help out more here,” Royals vice president of community impact Luis Maes said.

What they came up with was a youth baseball clinic the Royals held last week for League 42, as well as a $20,000 grant given to League 42 from The Kansas City Royals Foundation.

“There was an immediate connection to what we do and value to what they do,” Maes said. “We believe in the power of sport, in the power of baseball and softball and making sure kids have access to that. We want to connect with our fans on so many different levels, with our players and team, but then also with the values that we share off the field. … That starts in Kansas City, but there are opportunities to take some of the things we do here and scale it to different communities and other areas.”

Last week, the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, the Royals’ Double-A affiliate, were in Wichita playing the Wind Surge, the Twins’ Double-A affiliate. The timing also coincided with League 42’s final week of its season.

So on Friday, players and coaches from the Naturals and Wind Surge teamed up to put on a baseball clinic for League 42 participants at McAdams Park, the home base of League 42.

For two hours Friday morning, the 150 participants rotated among hitting, throwing and baserunning stations on two different fields with Naturals and Wind Surge players and coaches helping lead each station. The Royals also had representatives there to talk to parents about youth development.

The clinic was a huge success, and there’s already talk about making it a yearly event. With Wichita having a Minor League team and being just three hours away from Kansas City, there’s “natural synergy” for a partnership, Royals director of professional and sport development Jeff Diskin said.

“League 42 is a very grassroots-level program, and everybody gets a chance to play,” Diskin said. “It’s outstanding. It’s exactly what we want to do. It’s about playing and practicing baseball.

“I think ultimately our vision with what we want to do youth development-wise is get some traction in Kansas City and then grow to our affiliates with the same type of programs. And this gives us a great chance to try that out and see what it might look like.”

For Lutz, it’s another way to grow the local league he created with other Wichita community members in 2013 with the sole purpose of making baseball accessible and affordable. Now, it supports more than 600 kids and 46 teams, along with educational initiatives that include after-school programs, a financial literacy program called Full Count and a Bats to Badges program that enhances relationships between kids and law enforcement personnel.

“The Royals have been outstanding, and we are very appreciative of it,” Lutz said. “This is Wichita Royals country, and the team has been just great to work with. We look forward to continuing a relationship with them. We connect on a lot of different things.”