Latest / The Good Side of Sports Podcast / Guardians of the Game: How Cleveland Baseball Gives Back

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Guardians of the Game: How Cleveland Baseball Gives Back · The Good Side of Sports Podcast

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For over 125 years, there's been one constant in the
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city of Cleveland, and that's baseball. Since 1901,
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baseball has been the cornerstone of this city. Cleveland baseball
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has a rich history as one of the charter members of the American League,
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and they have been called the Bluebirds, the Naps, the Indians,
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and now Guardians. They have 2 World Series titles in 1920
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and 1948, 6 American League pennants, and 13
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Central Division titles. While the team has been there for the
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city, the city has been there for the team, especially during the record-setting
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455-game run of consecutive sellouts from 1995
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to 2001. This special bond has made the Cleveland Indians and
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now Cleveland Guardians Charities the special foundation that it is
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today. Formed in 1989, it takes all of what the teams gives
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on the field and continues to give in amazing ways off the field.
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Hello and welcome to another episode of the Good Side of Sports podcast,
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where we highlight the good being done by athletes and organizations
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and all the good they're doing to give back. Today we
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are taking our show on the road. We're here in Cleveland, Ohio, inside Cleveland Guardians
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headquarters where you'll find the Cleveland Guardians Charities.
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And today I'm joined by Penny Forster, Senior Director, Community Impact.
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So Penny, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. Thanks for
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coming to Cleveland. Oh, no problem. Thank you for having us. And for me personally,
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it's super special because I've been an Indians
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and now Guardians fan for 50 years. So this means a lot to me for
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sure. So thank you again. Yeah. So it sounds like you guys
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are, and from our correspondence, on quite a bit of a run here.
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Last 6 weeks or so has been a little crazy. 6 weeks, we've had all
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of our major fundraisers, so now they're all out of the way and we can
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get back into the routine of the season. So we're excited, but everything was,
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was great. I was watching the game on the 9th, Tuesday night,
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Tuesday, and the Giveathon. And last time I saw the total was up to $170,000.
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What did you guys end up at? Ended up around $182,000. Okay. So, uh,
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fans were incredible. We had a lot of support and just helps us do even
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more in the community. Yeah, that's, that's crazy for a one, one-day event
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to raise that much. Um, what would you say is your, your biggest
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event yearly? Is that— it's become probably our golf outing
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as a singular event. Okay. Um, obviously our 50/50 that runs every single night in
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the ballpark is a big one for us too, but from an event standpoint,
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it's probably our golf outing. Uh, we moved to Firestone last year.
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Okay. Um, so it's been a really popular move for us, and we've had great
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success the last 2 years, and we'll look to continue to do so. What did
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you think that one brought in We are about $350,000
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raised at our golf event. Okay. So it's a great one. A lot of our
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alumni come back and participate. We've had a lot of current guys this year participate,
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so it's always a good time. And our fans and season ticket members
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love it. Who's the best golfer on the team? On the current team?
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I'm not sure about the current guys because they all try really hard, but they
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swing a golf club that they swing a baseball bat. I don't think it's the
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same. It's not. So I don't think our current guys, there's nobody that's like killing
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it out there. Okay. From an alumni standpoint, Kenny Lofton takes it very seriously.
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Okay. Um, we have quite a few alumni that do, but he's, he's always
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the one with, you know, the glove and he looks very professional. Nice. Yes.
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Of, of bringing in all the money, what is the most,
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um, top-of-mind category or initiative that you guys are
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doing now? I think for us, for, for CJC, a lot of our dollars go
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back immediately into the community with our programming. So that's what's most important to us.
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Um, so that might mean our RBI program, it might mean our Playball
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CLE program, which supports Little Leagues around Cleveland in the inner city and entering suburbs.
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Really, whatever we can do to continue to grow the game and provide access is
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where our dollars are going to go. We also— major projects related,
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we do field renovations around the city. As we all know,
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in Cleveland, Ohio, April, May may not be baseball weather as much as
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we want it to be. So we need to continue to turf fields and bring
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those into better condition so that they're playable on a much more consistent basis.
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Yeah, we stopped by on the way up here to the Jim Thome I mean,
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it's, it's amazing, amazing facility for sure.
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Yes. Um, one of my, my friend's family lives up here and they, they think
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they're part of your program because they have like free uniforms and all
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that's provided to them and stuff like that. So the RBI program, it's, it's all
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covered by us, all expenses. Really? What's the ages of, of that? We now
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ran our RBI program from 12U on the baseball side through college.
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We actually support the Cleveland State University club baseball team and the
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Tri-C, which is Cuyahoga Community College, their baseball and softball program. Okay. So literally from,
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from 12 to college, um, we've got kids playing within our RBI program.
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Wow. Um, so does— how many are in your department?
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Or my department, we're a small but mighty team. Okay. Um,
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there are 4 of us full-time working on all of this, and then we've got,
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um, a seasonal specialist who's incredible, an intern who's incredible. So,
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uh, small but mighty team. Wow. All that was just— yeah. And then our
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vice president is obviously a big, a big key of everything that we do.
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But, um, yeah, small but mighty team, we like to say. Do they— does that
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include like the social media and all of it?
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Um, yes, we're running Sealy Inspires, which is our social account.
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So if, if ever anything's missing from social, it's probably because I was supposed to
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post it and I'm still figuring out how to do so. Oh, okay. All right.
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Yeah, being starting to do this, I understand what you mean. So it's like I'm
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always asking my daughters, like, how do I do this? What do I do here?
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As the oldest member of the department, that's, that's usually me. Oh yeah.
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What, uh, what players are most involved in, in what you do?
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We're very lucky in that for the last few years, especially our team, the entire
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roster has been engaged in what we're doing in the community.
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Obviously, levels of involvement may vary based on what's
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happening in the season and where they are and all of that. And I think
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for us, there's really 2 that stand out to me anyways,
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one being Steven Quant. Everything he does is incredibly intentional,
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cares so much about our community, so much about Cleveland. Usually when I
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see him, the first thing he says to me is like, where can I help?
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What can I do? Really? Right now. So he's always in
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tune with kind of what we're doing in the community world. And he's got his
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own program with his Trust Club. And so that's been a really good one for
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us. The other one is Jose. He may not be as out
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and about as Stephen Kwan can be at times, but Jose truly cares about Cleveland.
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He truly cares about his hometown in Bonnie, and it's really important to him to
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give back in both. And he's, he's proven that year after year. Yeah. That's cool.
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So the city, did they get involved, like ask you like,
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hey, we, can we go this direction? Or we're very involved with the city and
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the Google Metropolitan School District. So those are 2 of our
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biggest partners in all of our community work.
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We cover the cost of all baseball and softball programming
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at the school district. So there's 11 high schools with baseball, softball. They were going
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to get rid of the sport about 25 years ago. And the Dolan
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family was— they were buying the team, so we won't let that happen. So we've
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been covering the cost of that since. Same thing with City Rec. We cover the
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cost and resources for City Rec in Cleveland and all of the rec centers to
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have baseball and softball. All the fields refurbished are technically City
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of Cleveland property, so we work in partnership with them on that.
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Um, so yeah, they're very deeply involved with us.
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Um, you know, I think there's a lot of accountability and things that we've worked
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on over the years, and it's gotten gotten it to a good place, and they
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definitely come to us for support on different initiatives that they have started or want
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support on. And we go to them when it's time to figure out, okay,
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what's the next field we should refurbish, because we want to make sure we're doing
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it where kids are playing. So how long have you been with the organization?
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I have been with the organization for 25 years, but I've only been in the
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community space, um, for about 5 and a half. Okay, because it started in '89?
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Yes, the charity itself I believe it was 89. And obviously
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we're kind of divided into 2 halves. So we've got our community impact team.
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Okay. And the charitable arm. There's a lot of crossover and it's all the same
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4 of us working on everything. But there's a little bit of separation
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in kind of how we tackle certain things. If I know with the Giveathon,
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Giveathon, there was a lot of fan involvement. Is there, what, is there
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anything that they can do outside of that one, one event?
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Absolutely. No, the fans have been amazing. And I think especially over the last few
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years, they've really picked up on a lot of the work that we're doing and
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want to be a part of it in whatever way they can. So I always
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say 2 things. Follow us on Sealy Inspires if you're not already. Okay. That's where
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you're going to see all of the amazing things that's happening in our community.
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And there's different ways to support by seeing those events that
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are coming up and that type of thing. And then if you want to make
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a donation, that's also amazing. Okay. We can always—
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there's online donation form, but also participating in things like our 50/50 when you come
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to the game. All of that money is going back to, to our charities and
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then right out into the community. Is that something that you can do outside of
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being at the game, or is it— okay, it's online. Okay, as long as you
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are in the state of Ohio, you can participate. Gotcha. Okay, that's helpful. Okay,
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um, is there any former players that are really come
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back in and do— yeah, really starting to get into that more and more
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lately. Um, a lot of our alumni, we have an alumni ambassadors program And
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so we've got different alumni that come back throughout the season for different events and
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occasions, and we're really starting to incorporate them into community events as well, especially some
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of the younger alumni, because they were active in the community when they were here.
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Okay. Do it when they return. So we're really trying to work those into,
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you know, our youth camps and clinics and different events that we
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may have going on when they're here in town. So they're definitely getting involved.
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Do you, do you have any, any camps scheduled? We have 2 camps a
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week from now until the end of summer. Okay. Our youth camps are pretty popular.
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They were across the city. I think there's a total of like 30-some camps now,
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um, so 2 to 3 a week that are happening in different parts of Northeast
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Ohio. And, um, it's become very popular and it's run extremely
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well by our partner organization that runs those for us. Any players or former players
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show up to those too? Every week there's either an alumni or a current guy,
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depending on if we're on the road or not, that shows up at the camps
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and signs autographs for all the kids and talks to them for a bit.
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So it's a very cool experience. Is that something that's Does it— is there a
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cost to it, or— there is a cost to those. Okay. Um, because they're a
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5-day camp, just like a lot of summer camps. Um, but then we also do
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free clinics on occasion throughout the summer as well at some of the different fields
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that we've created. Okay. So the— what are the— there's 3 main fields
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that I— when I was doing a little bit of research that I've seen,
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is that those— those are the 3? Is there any others beside those 3?
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There's also Leak Park, which we were a part of as well and continue to
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work with. In partnership with League Park. That was where we originally played baseball.
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Yeah, right. Yeah. Um, so we've charged League Park, and then we have Jim Thome
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Field, CeCe Sabathia Field, and Jose Ramirez Field. I can't get
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into too many details, but there will be more coming soon. Okay, awesome. The same
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style, like, of complex? Similar, but it's time for us
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to shift a little attention to softballs. Oh, nice. Okay, well,
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that's cool. Yeah, my daughter's played, so that would definitely be great. Yeah, girls need
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a home too, so we're excited about that. Is there any, uh,
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event or story that, that has really stood
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out to you? You know, I think for me, there's, there's so many different events
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that we've done in different situations where we've stepped in and
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had impact. But I think one thing that comes to mind from a
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community standpoint is tied to Jose.
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When he signed not this most recent extension, but before that,
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it was very important to him that he gives back not only here in Cleveland,
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but in his hometown of Bonilla in the Dominican Republic. Okay.
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So we said, well, let's figure out how we can help you do that
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in both places. So that's when Jose Ramirez Field was created.
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We built that, he supported that. And then we have actually gone back
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to the Dominican twice with him. I was on one of those trips and we've
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done clinics and given out equipment to all the kids in his hometown of Bonny,
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which I wasn't expecting how much baseball means to those kids already.
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It's very different than here. You know, when we have a free clinic here
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for a lot of the kids, it might be the first time they're picking up
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a bat or a baseball. Not down there. Okay. All right. But it might be
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the first time they're getting a real solid bat, you know what I
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mean? So it was very cool to see that, to see the passion they all
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have for the sport and to see Jose in that light,
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because to them, he's just Jose. He's from our neighborhood, right? He helps us
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out. He supports us. But they don't quite understand who he is here. Okay.
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But it's very cool to see that. And he obviously cares so much about
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both hometowns, right? That's cool. Yeah,
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he's definitely a special individual. Yeah. I mean,
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From contracts to just the way he plays. It's— I
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mean, yeah, it's— the kids learn a lot from watching him play. Yeah.
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And I think even the players, the players on the team,
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men follow his lead and stuff like that too.
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I don't know if you guys talk like other people in your position
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at other teams, like what's the relationship in Cleveland
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compared to other teams in their cities? And I actually this morning we
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have a monthly call with our counterparts in Detroit, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh.
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Okay. And I think for us, it's pretty similar in a
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lot of communities. But I think for us, we've been here, I mean, it's 125
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years, right? We are truly a pillar of the community. So it's important
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that we give back and support the fans that support us for so long.
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But also just from a city relationship,
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you know, I'm involved with a lot of different nonprofits that
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come to us for support. So I try to keep an understanding of what the
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needs are because we're always changing, especially in a city like ours.
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Okay. So I think it's important that we're always plugged into that. Do our best
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to be there and support when those different things arise. And, you know,
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the city's been great partners in bringing us to the table
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when we need, or when they think we can be plugged in to help create
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change or impact too. What is something that you think baseball is
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helping with something that's going on with the city? It's a
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good question. I would say for us, I guess I kind of
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lean on our RBI program and what that's doing for kids,
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particularly in the city of Cleveland, providing access to them and opportunities
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that they might not easily have on their own. Um, we know that
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the expense of youth sports is getting out of control in some cases,
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especially baseball, softball. So whatever we can do to remove
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any of those barriers for the families that need that support,
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we want to do that because those kids deserve the same opportunity that anyone
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else has. Sure. So whether that be just being able to play the game,
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getting introduced to the game, Or as far as they played
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now after high school and they want that college opportunity to play at the next
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level, we want to do whatever we can to support that and get them into
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the right programs and being seen by the coaches at college level and all of
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that. So we want to make sure that we're providing those opportunities. How many teams
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do you think you guys support?
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It's hard to say team-wise. I will say this,
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with all of our programming together The number is
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about 20,000 youth that are impacted by our work.
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When you drill down into individual programs,
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our RBI program is probably about 300 to 400 youth each
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year, depending on the number of teams we field. Some of our other programs are
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a little bit larger, our Play Well CLE program. So we provide a grant to
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just about every Little League association organization
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within the city of Cleveland and the entering suburbs, and along with some adaptive organizations
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as well that are providing adaptive baseball, softball needs. Um,
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so that program alone is about 3,000 youth. So, okay,
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when you start adding everything together, that collective impact
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is about 200 or 20,000. That's a lot. It is a
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lot. Um, we are proud to say that
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there is not a baseball or softball game happening in the city of Cleveland that's
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not happening because of the support or resources we provided. That's awesome. Yeah,
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some, some of, uh my future guests do,
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um, like the Miracle Fields down in Cincinnati. Do you, do you
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have any programs like that? What, the Miracle League, um, here in Northeast Ohio
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is one of our partners in that adaptive sports. Oh, okay, okay. So yeah,
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we do a lot of work with them. We've got a couple of really awesome
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adaptive programs in our, in our playball COE. There's Empower
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Sports, there's achievement centers for kids and children. So there's a lot that we try
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to do, um, because that's obviously important that they all have the same access
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to the sport too. Right, right. Um, so what do you think
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in total, is there a number that you've raised
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like since inception or? So I
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will, I will say this. I think the number that we're, we're safe saying right
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now, looking over 37 or so years of Cleveland
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Guardians Charities, we have probably put out, I think this
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is a minimum of $40 million back into the community.
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Um, I've actually asked that question recently of our finance team, so I want to
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try to figure that out as we approach our 40th anniversary. So trying to figure
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out what that number is, right? Um, and some of our data doesn't go back
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as far as it should. Okay. Um, but we think it's probably $40 million
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is a safe number to say right now. And, and that primarily is, let's say,
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corporate sponsors and fan participation? Yes, it's our, it's our
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partners for sure, it's our fans, and it's our players that have contributed over the
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years. Oh, they, they They put money in as well. Who's the— who, as far
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as corporate sponsors go, who is the major ones? So for us, we have quite
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a few of our partners that are— that have gotten involved recently. Um,
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Colleague and Colleague Giving is a big one for us right now. They sponsored our
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Giveathon the other night. Um, we've got many partners that are involved in our golf
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event. Obviously, that's a big one for them. They can entertain and whatnot.
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Um, I would say, you know, it's funny
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because I come from the partnerships world. That's the side of the business I was
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on for the first 19 seasons I was here. Okay. Um, so we've been able
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to bring that over to our space a little bit. Bit more. Um, we have
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a great partnership with Davey Tree, for instance, where we plant trees for every home
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run for our community. Okay. Um, so we can get pretty
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creative with our partners, which is good. That's good. Um, you've mentioned the RBI a
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couple times. Is that, is that a specific age group,
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or is it a level, playing level, or— us,
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we look at it, it starts at 12U on the, on the baseball side,
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and then 15U on the softball side. Okay. Um, every team— so RBI
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is a Major League Baseball program. There are RBI teams across the world.
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Okay. Most of them are tied to an MLB team, not all of them are.
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So as you'll see, it's a little different in every situation
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because some teams handle it a little differently. We took it completely in-house
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about 5 years ago, and we've been really—
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it's really grateful for the growth in that and the impact
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that we see because we now have kids that are starting at 12 and then
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they're staying with the program all the way through college. Okay. Our intern this year,
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Leon, he came from the RBI program. He's a sophomore at Kent State,
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but he played RBI a few years ago. Okay. Um, so we're starting to see
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that. We have another RBI alum from our program that's working for the Red Sox
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in video production. So we're starting to see those kids,
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um, get that love of the game at an early age. Okay. Use it
19:15
to get to the college they want to get to because they can get,
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you know, scholarships and whatnot, and then, and then make a career out of it,
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which is awesome. Do they— does the RBI team, they travel Um,
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tournaments? Yes, so they mostly play,
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um, regionally, I will say, for the first part of the season. And then there's
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the MLB Regional Tournament every year where they're playing, you know, the Reds teams and
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the Tigers and the Pirates and whoever else. Um, and then if they win the
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regionals, they go to the World Series in Vero Beach, Florida. Oh, okay. Um,
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which we've had happen quite a few times. Yeah, I think our softball team is
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one of the more successful ones, um, in the United States, so That's always
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very cool to see. For a lot of those kids, it might be their first
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time getting on an airplane. Um, so you get to see a lot of growth
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in them over the course of the season, um, which is a really awesome thing.
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It happens to always be early August, so it's the hottest time you could possibly
20:05
go to Florida, right? Um, so I mostly sit there and worry about
20:09
hydration and all those fun things, but, uh, they have the time of their life
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and meet kids from literally across the globe. So it's a really cool program.
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The, uh, coaches, where do they— how do they get involved? Where do they come
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from? Our coaches, all our, our staff, so we, we pay them, they're paid staff.
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Um, our coaches, a majority of ours have come from the
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RBI program. Oh, okay. So the program, they've now come back to give back
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to it. Um, they are college baseball coaches.
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We have a police presence on our coaching staff. We've got teachers,
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like it runs the gamut. Um, but they pour their heart and soul into this
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program, and I can never speak enough about our coaches.
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Um, yes, they're good teaching baseball, softball technique,
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and they're great on the field, but they're more about the kids
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themselves and making sure that their growth and maturity is there and that
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they're learning the things that we know baseball can teach, right? Um,
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and truly like becoming a part of the family for, for those kids. We call
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our RBI teams a family, and it— you get that as soon as you start
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to meet them and the coaches and you see that family environment. It's some— sometimes
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they don't maybe get that where they're coming from before they play, and then this
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fills a void for them. We have coaches that I know are,
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you know, picking a kid up to get them to practice because they might not
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get there if they don't. They're making sure they've got lunch when practice is over.
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Like, there's a lot of those little things that they don't even often tell us,
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um, but it's just because of how much they care about the kids, which is
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truly all I care about, right? That's amazing. That's good.
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Um, I know The last 6 weeks have been crazy.
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And is there anything left to do? It's funny,
21:45
we have this like deep breath now that our major events are over,
21:49
but it's just meaning now that we're back more into our routine events. Okay.
21:52
So like I said, summer camps are going on. RBI is
21:56
really just taking off right now. Tryouts were at the end of May, so now
21:59
the teams are just ramping up. So we have a lot of RBI stuff going
22:02
on, all of our normal game programming and
22:06
things that we have. You know, you'll see some one-off fundraising
22:10
type things going on for Guards Charities and then just all of our programming.
22:13
So we take a breath, but it doesn't stop.
22:17
Um, what nonprofits are you currently engaged with
22:20
as far as for funding and stuff like that? So there are a ton,
22:24
and I, I like to, to kind of educate on this a little bit because
22:27
I think it's confusing to a lot of people. So I've been trying to get
22:30
better at educating on this. Okay. Um, for Guards Charities,
22:33
all of our grants are very specific in the space of
22:38
growing the game and youth support. So a lot of our philanthropic dollars
22:43
that go into different nonprofits in Cleveland actually come from the team side and
22:47
the community budget through the team side. So it's not so much grants as much
22:50
as sponsorships of events and that type of thing. So on
22:54
that side of things, I kind of put on a different hat, okay, and look
22:57
at things a little differently. Um, for us, there's obviously some organizations we've
23:01
worked with for a long time that we continue to support because the incredible work
23:05
they're doing in our community. There's awesome relationships that we have,
23:09
you know, the senior leadership and ownership level. So different
23:12
orgs that we might support for that. There's other things that we
23:17
want to be able to step in and provide support when there's a dire need.
23:21
So whatever might be happening in the city, whatever might come
23:24
up. A good example of this a few months ago when the federal shutdown was
23:28
happening, SNAP benefits were ended for a short time. The Greater
23:32
Cleveland Food Bank came to us and said, listen, you're one of our normal yearly
23:35
supporters, would you mind doing more this time? We're like, of course.
23:39
So those are the types of things that we try to plug into when we
23:42
can. Um, but yeah, there's a lot of— I think Cleveland has
23:46
like the most nonprofits per capita than any small city in America.
23:50
So there's a lot of incredible organizations doing a lot of amazing work.
23:53
Um, so it's always a hard part of my job is to figure out where
23:57
we can best fit in and support and provide financial resources where we can.
24:02
You said early on like that Cleveland's baseball has been a pillar of the city
24:07
for so long. And, and, and it's amazing. I mean, you guys
24:10
do a great job like front office-wise, what you
24:14
do and stuff like that. And it's not a huge market, but you
24:18
do so much with, with what you exactly get.
24:21
So small, small but mighty. That's right. That's right. That's right.
24:25
But no, I think it's it's important for us to be able to give
24:29
back and provide support where we can. And so that's our focus. And I would
24:32
say we're— we don't do anything, um, transactionally. That's also
24:37
important to us. So if we're going to support an organization, it's more than just
24:40
writing them a check. Um, you know, I want to know other ways that we
24:43
can plug in and support as well. So we have those conversations early on.
24:47
And that concludes our show. So tune in next time where I'll bring you another
24:51
fantastic organization supporting a great cause. And remember, show your
24:56
good side out there,