Groundbreaking ceremony held for New Orleans MLB Youth Academy

New Orleans native Ron Washington showed his leadership skills to baseball fans around the country by managing the Texas Rangers to the World Series last year. Without Washington's behind-the-scenes leadership, said Darrell Miller, Major League Baseball's vice president of youth and facility development, plans for the New Orleans MLB Urban Youth Academy might have been scrapped.

The process was bogging down last winter, when Washington, who had played winter baseball with his friend Miller years ago and played against him in the majors, called to offer help.

"I just figured it wasn't going to happen," Miller said Wednesday morning at the ground-breaking for the $5.3 million project at Wesley Barrow Stadium in Pontchartrain Park. "It just seemed like it wasn't meant to be. He said: 'If you come down, I'll get a meeting together. We'll get something done.' If it wasn't for Ron, truly, we wouldn't be here today."

Washington worked out a trip home for the ceremony even though the Rangers, who are involved in a tight pennant race, played at home Tuesday night and were scheduled to play Wednesday night.

"Any time you can do anything that can influence the youth of today, that's a good thing," he said. . "I think baseball can build a foundation. It can teach you a lot of things that you could take for granted. Darrell Miller and Jimmie Lee Solomon (MLB executive vice president of baseball development), it's their baby. They certainly could have gone other places.

"I'm glad they chose New Orleans. This is the place that gave me my start."

MLB is operating youth academies in Houston and Compton, Calif., recently took over an academy in Gurabo, Puerto Rico, and has plans to open academies in Philadelphia and Hialeah, Fla. The academies are part of a larger MLB strategy to reinvigorate interest in baseball among inner-city children. A concern of baseball officials is that urban children are gravitating more to other sports, such as basketball and football.

"What we're going to have here is going to be world-class and will make a difference in the lives of our children,'' U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond of New Orleans said.

The New Orleans project will include the construction of three fields (for baseball, softball and tee ball), scoreboards, seating, dugouts, lights, indoor batting cages and practice pitching mounds.

"Commissioner Selig made it very clear, baseball has responsibilities to our society," Solomon said. Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf oil spill helped focus baseball's attention on New Orleans, he said.

"We were looking to do something here," Solomon said. "It took a long time to get all the pieces in place. This is an area rich in baseball. ... Once Mayor (Mitch) Landrieu came in and declared it one of his 100 projects, it really made it fait accompli."

The New Orleans Academy will operate in partnership with the New Orleans Recreation Development Commission. About 1,500 young people are expected to take part in the free, year-round programs. Solomon said he is hopeful the academy will open next summer.

The academy will teach more than how to play baseball and softball, he said. Baseball vocational skills, which might lead to careers in groundskeeping, play-by-play or scouting will be taught. With help from the educational curriculum, children will be better prepared for ACT and SAT tests, Solomon said.

"The critical thing is not to manufacture the next major-leaguer," he said. "It's to manufacture a major-league contributor to society."

Miller said: "Our goal is to graduate every single kid we touch, get them to graduate from high school."

Landrieu, city council members Cynthia Hedge-Morrell and Arnie Fielkow, state Sen. JP Morrell and state Rep. Jared Brossett were others who spoke about how the academy will benefit young people.

"It's about giving them the skills to do better in life," Landrieu said.

Morrell said: "We can't change anything if we don't invest in our children."

Washington, who lives in New Orleans in the offseason, is eager to give to his community.

"What this is about is influence," he said. "I don't think anyone got anything in life without someone pointing a direction to go."

Funding for the project will come from FEMA damage reimbursements, block grants and other public money, Fielkow said.

Washington and former big-league pitcher Chad Gaudin will be hosts of a golf tournament Nov. 14 at English Turn to benefit the academy.