Two former Major League Baseball players held a baseball
clinic for middle schoolers in Brooklyn on Monday.
Pitchers Nelson Figueroa and Chris Capuano held an
instructional baseball clinic at Ebbets Field Middle School in Crown Heights,
the same place where the color barrier was broken in baseball in 1947.
Back in April, these students were asked how they would like
to honor Jackie Robinson’s legacy, and baseball was at the top of their list.
Most students from Ebbets Field Middle School are immigrants
or the children of immigrants, and many of them had never picked up a baseball
before. The Players’
Trust, the charitable arm of the MLB Players’ Association,
organized the event and donated baseball equipment to the school.
Students got to learn how to pitch, catch, and even swing
the bat. State Sen. Zellnor Myrie, who was in attendance, says he hopes
to implement more of these clinics around Brooklyn and eventually across the
city.