Birmingham Youth Get to ‘Play Ball’ with Major Leaguers at Regions Field  

By Solomon Crenshaw Jr. | For The Birmingham Times Seeds were planted Tuesday afternoon at Regions Field in Birmingham Alabama. Not with a shovel or a spade, but with whiffleballs and foam bats. Major League Baseball hosted Play Ball, its signature youth engagement activity for about 125 Birmingham children who were joined by Play Ball Ambassador Coach Ballgame and other special guests, as the group went through fun- and fitness-focused activities designed to show the many ways the game can be played. The gathering was part of more than a dozen activities in Birmingham this week in tandem with MLB Tribute to The Negro Leagues on June 20 which features a regular season game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the San Francisco Giants at historic Rickwood Field. Swinging Away during MLB’s Play Ball youth engagement activity at Regions Park (Solomon Crenshaw Jr., For The Birmingham Times) David James, Major League Baseball’s vice president of baseball and softball development in charge of baseball’s grassroots efforts, hopes the youngsters at Regions Field gleaned one thing from their experience. “That the game is fun,” he said, pointing out that plastic and foam bat and ball sets where used for a specific purpose....