April Brown looked on from a nearby hill as children from the Barksdale Boys & Girls Club ran onto their new field. Brown, who serves as MLB’s senior vice president of social responsibility, smiled as she watched the joy radiate across their faces.
“Just now, as we were taking a photo, there was a young girl,” Brown told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I asked her if she was excited that the field was here. She was like, ‘Yes, my mom said she’s gonna buy me a glove and a bat.’”
“And that made it all worthwhile.”
MLB and the Braves unveiled the new All-Star Legacy Field at the club in Conyers on Thursday morning. The project included renovating the baseball field, repairing the dugouts and scoreboard and adding security fencing, lights and irrigation systems.
The organization also received a donation of equipment from the Braves and a new Chevrolet vehicle to help transport the children to and from their games.
“This field is more than just a place to play,” Danielle Bedasse, the Braves’ vice president of community affairs and executive director of the team’s foundation, said during the ceremony. “It’s a place where confidence is built, friendships are forged and dreams take shape.”
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
The upgraded facilities are the latest of $120 million that MLB and its teams gifted local communities hosting the All-Star Game since 1997. The All-Star Legacy Initiative — involving MLB and the Braves this year — will invest more than $4 million into metro Atlanta projects aimed toward increasing access to baseball and softball for children and supplying resources to underserved communities.
The Braves want every child to have an opportunity to experience the magic of sports. Providing the improved field marked a step toward turning dreams into reality.
“I’m just a big believer that sport changes lives,” Bedasse told the AJC. “It is character building. It challenges you. It teaches you how to win and lose, and that’s an important lesson in life. As (former Brave Hank Aaron said), ‘You keep swinging.’”
Investing in the Barksdale Boys & Girls Club also shows the children they are important enough to have world-class facilities, no matter what their situations may look like outside of the club’s grounds.
“That is what it is absolutely about,” said Libby Saylor Wright, the CEO of Boys & Girls Club of metro Atlanta. “And young people, I want you to know that you deserve spaces and places that look like this in your lives. You deserve it, and don’t let anybody ever let you forget that.”
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
MLB and Boys & Girls Clubs of America have partnered for over 29 years to provide children with opportunities. One moment that stands out to Frank Sanchez, the national vice president of sports, entertainment and community affairs for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, occurred in 2023 when MLB let a high school senior from the Boys & Girls Club sing the national anthem before a World Series game.
And less than two years later, that child, Pearle Peterson, is working on her first album in a recording studio.
“My favorite part is moments like this, where you’re able to see the impact we do have on young people, young people’s families and a community,” Sanchez told the AJC. “This work here, the rippling effect will last for five generations. And when you know you’re part of that, you know the work you do matters.”
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