International Championship Tournament for Baseball and Softball will held in Vero Beach
24 TEAMS FROM ACROSS THE UNITED STATES, PUERTO RICO AND
THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC CLINCH RBI WORLD SERIES BERTHS
For First Time in International Championship Tournament’s History, Games for Both Baseball & Softball Will Be Held at the Jackie Robinson Training Complex in Vero Beach, Fla.
Championship Games of Both Baseball and Softball To Be Streamed LIVE on MLB.com
Twenty-four baseball and softball teams have advanced to the 27th edition of the Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) World Series, which will be hosted for the first time at its new permanent home – the Jackie Robinson Training Complex in Vero Beach, Fla. The event will operate with the baseball portion first, featuring 16 teams separated by the Junior (ages 13-15) and Senior (ages 16-18) divisions from Sunday, August 4th until Friday, August 9th. Softball will feature eight teams (ages 19 and under) from Saturday, August 10th until Thursday, August 15th. The RBI World Series is the international championship tournament of the RBI program, the MLB youth initiative designed to provide young people from underserved and diverse communities the opportunity to play baseball and softball at a competitive level.
The special event will feature more than 350 young men and women on RBI teams from 17 cities around the United States, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic competing. In order to earn a spot in this year’s RBI World Series, teams from the United States, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Uganda and Curaçao competed in RBI Regional Tournaments. A total of five RBI programs (Arizona RBI, Cleveland Baseball Federation RBI, Miami Marlins RBI, Puerto Rico RBI Carolina, RBI of Greater Harrisburg) are sending two teams to the tournament. Historically, 12 countries and U.S. territories around the world have competed in the RBI World Series, including the United States, Canada, Chinese Taipei, Curaçao, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, St. Croix, St. Thomas, Uganda, United Kingdom and Venezuela. Additional notes can be found in the attached document.
The following is a complete list of cities (and leagues) represented in this year’s RBI World Series:
Junior Baseball Teams (Ages 13-15)
Boston, Mass. (Red Sox Foundation RBI)
Carolina, Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico Carolina RBI)
Chicago, Ill. (Chicago White Sox RBI)
Harrisburg, Pa. (RBI of Greater Harrisburg)
New Orleans, La. (New Orleans MLB Youth Academy RBI)
Miami, Fla. (Miami Marlins RBI)
Phoenix, Ariz. (Arizona RBI)
St. Louis, Mo. (Mathews-Dickey Boys & Girls Club RBI)
Senior Baseball Teams (Ages 16-18)
Austin, Texas (RBI Austin)
Carolina, Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico Carolina RBI)
Cleveland, Ohio (Cleveland Baseball Federation RBI)
Detroit, Mich. (Detroit PAL RBI)
Durham, N.C. (Durham Long Ball RBI)
Miami, Fla. (Miami Marlins RBI)
Paterson, N.J. (Paterson Baseball Association RBI)
Phoenix, Ariz. (Arizona RBI)
Softball Teams (Ages 19 and under)
Barahona, Dominican Republic (Dominican Republic RBI)
Cincinnati, Ohio (Cincinnati Reds RBI)
Cleveland, Ohio (Cleveland Baseball Federation RBI)
Harrisburg, Pa. (RBI of Greater Harrisburg)
Houston, Texas (Houston Astros RBI)
Jersey City, N.J. (Roberto Clemente RBI of Jersey City)
Los Angeles, Calif. (Angels RBI)
Tampa, Fla. (Rays RBI Tampa)
The baseball portion of the RBI World Series launches with seeding games beginning on Sunday, August 4th. On Wednesday, August 7th the baseball players will participate in the annual “Workout Day,” where they will showcase their skills in front of professional scouts and collegiate recruiters.
The softball portion of the RBI World Series will host opening games on Sunday, August 11th, with a first-ever “Skills Show” being held on Wednesday, August 14th. Also on Wednesday, MLB will announce the recipient of the Jennie Finch Empowerment Award presented by ARM & HAMMER, which will be awarded to the player who best embodies leadership characteristics. Finch, Olympic Gold Medalist and MLB Youth Softball Ambassador, will be on hand to make the special announcement.
The tournament will include games (seeding, playoff and championship), special roundtable discussions, visits to First Data Field, and more. Additionally, players will participate in a “Breaking Barriers: In Sports, In Life” essay contest, which will encourage them to write essays about personal obstacles they have overcome on their lives. Daughter of Jackie Robinson and MLB Consultant Sharon Robinson will make special appearances during both the baseball and softball portions of the tournament.
The Senior Division Baseball Championship and Softball Championship games will stream LIVE on MLB.com. MLB Network’s Stephen Nelson will call play-by-play for both the baseball and championship, with former Major League All-Star Dmitri Young and former NCAA women’s softball champion Destinee Martinez providing coverage for the baseball and softball championship, respectively. Shannon Ford and Dani Wexelman will provide on-air reporting for baseball and softball, respectively.
The RBI program has provided a path for many players to enter the college and professional game. MLB Clubs have drafted more than 200 RBI participants throughout the program’s 31-year history, and many others have been given the opportunity for higher education through baseball and softball scholarships. There have been more than 95 RBI alumni selected between the 2013-2019 MLB Drafts. Specifically, in 2019, eight alumni of MLB’s Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) Program selected in the Draft.
RBI alumni who appeared in the Major Leagues in 2019 include Justin Upton (Los Angeles Angels), CC Sabathia (New York Yankees), Eloy Jimenez (Chicago White Sox), Nomar Mazara (Texas Rangers), Anthony Rendon (Washington Nationals), Josh Harrison (Detroit Tigers), Jackie Bradley Jr. (Boston Red Sox), Hector Santiago (New York Mets), Steven Souza, Jr.(Arizona Diamondbacks), Chris Iannetta (Colorado Rockies), J.P. Crawford (Seattle Mariners) and Dominic Smith (New York Mets). Jimenez (Dominican Republic RBI – ’12), Mazara(Dominican Republic RBI – ‘11), Crawford (Venice Boys & Girls Club RBI – ‘09) and Smith (Venice Boys & Girls Club RBI – ‘09) have each played in the RBI World Series.
The RBI program, which has served approximately 2 million young people since its inception, is administered by Major League Baseball and designed to give young people from underserved and diverse communities the opportunity to play baseball and softball, while also encouraging academic achievement and success and teaching the value of teamwork and other important life lessons. RBI currently serves young men and women in over 300 programs in approximately 200 cities worldwide. MLB and its Clubs have designated more than $40 million worth of resources to the RBI program, and all 30 Clubs support RBI leagues. For more information about the RBI World Series, please visit MLB.com/rbiworldseries.
