If you visited, you would witness the palpable confidence exuded by many on the active roster as they battled one another in chess hour after hour. Outfielder Steven Kwan could be identified as the ringleader, eventually seeking new competition to humble his talented and overconfident teammates.
Steven’s game, both on and off the field, revolves around mental toughness. Journaling is a significant part of his daily routine, and like chess, it has become a frequent escape and healthy distraction from baseball. It is Steven’s proactive approach to mental health and his consequently calm demeanor that sets him apart from other hitters.
A few weeks into the 2022 season, Steven met with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s John Marshall High School (JMHS) Chess Club. Founded by refugee students from around the world, the club had recently achieved a 12th-place finish in the U.S. Chess Federation High School National Championship. Steven invited others to compete against the students, who left without a loss and with one stalemate -- against Steven, who celebrated as if he had won the championship.
Steven and his teammates were humbled that morning. However, what Steven did not expect was to develop a lasting friendship with a new community of baseball fans. “Baseball” was a completely new concept to the students, who had known previously cricket only. They had no knowledge of who Steven Kwan was -- nor did they care -- and were more concerned that he didn’t wear a helmet while playing left field than about his achievements. Chess Club continued with "home-and-home" matches, alternating between the Guardians' dugout and the 50-yard line of the JMHS football field each month. The students added Steven on chess.com, and matches occurred nearly daily on the app. Steven also invited the Chess Club to Guardians games, where they enjoyed sitting near him in left field and cheered for free McDonald’s chicken nuggets when he stole a base.
Fast forward to 2024. After numerous chess gatherings, printing Guardians Chess Club T-shirts to raise funds for Cleveland Municipal School District's Chess Clubs and a JMHS Chess Club graduation party in the Guardians' dugout (complete with college readiness gift boxes and Guardians jerseys), Steven and his teammates hosted a chess.com Spring Training tournament in Goodyear, Ariz., to raise money for charity. As expected, Steven placed first and donated his monetary prize to CMSD Chess Clubs. In a standout season for the Asian-American outfielder, the students were first in line to message him about his selection to the American League All-Star team. They are fascinated by his batting average and have developed an appreciation for watching a Gold Glove outfielder. They use the MLB app to check Guardians scores and watch highlights. While the students have undoubtedly increased their knowledge of baseball, Steven fields questions from them occasionally about the game. Recently, a student asked, “When is halftime?”
Steven, whose parents are Chinese and Japanese, has a passion for meeting others -- especially minorities -- where they are in life. When he is not playing chess, you can often find him in his eighth-grade True2U classroom at CMSD’s Hannah Gibbons, where he is in his second year mentoring students throughout the academic year. Similar to Chess Club, very few students knew his name or occupation on his first day two years ago. Steven has spent hours discussing high school choices, career pathways, navigating peer pressure and the benefits of journaling to escape daily life. It was after Steven promised to attend their varsity basketball game on a cold, snowy January day -- and much to their surprise, actually showed up -- that he became more than just a classroom mentor. Today, his class can say they follow Steven’s statistics and the Guardians' record, and despite Steven’s athleticism, they still believe they can beat him in push-up contests in the Hannah Gibbons school library. (They cannot.)
Steven’s mental toughness might be the reason he’s atop the batting average leaderboard. But the community he has built in Cleveland and the young baseball fans he has inspired arguably deserve some credit for his and the Guardians' recent success both on the field and in the box office.