BASEBALL : Chet Brewer Classic Is Big Hit With Youths

While major league baseball players and team owners argued over labor issues, Chicago Cubs official John Young and major league scout Dale Sutherland last September teamed up to form the inaugural RBI/Chet Brewer Inner City Easter Baseball Classic.

The tournament is named for a famous Negro League pitcher, focuses on reviving the sport of baseball in the inner city. It targets youths between the ages of 13 and 18.

“The classic is good for the scouts because it allows them to watch quality talent play on quality fields,” said Sutherland, a California Angels scout and president of the Southern California Scouts Association. “Most kids hustle hard and play to their potential because the scouts are out.”

The six-day tournament fielded 16 teams and was played at five sites: USC’s Dedeaux Field; Crystal Springs in Griffith Park, Brookside Park and Muir High in Pasadena and East Los Angeles College. The tournament also received assistance from the Los Angeles City College, Pasadena City College and USC.

“This is a real nice tournament,” Crenshaw assistant coach Darren Deckard said. “The players are real excited to play on these fields. They’re one notch below Dodger Stadium and many of these kids will never have this chance again.”

RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities), was founded in 1989 by Young, currently a special assistant to the general manager of the Chicago Cubs.

The program was designed to give inner-city youths an opportunity to learn the sport, lure them away from gangs, and most importantly, help them stay focused in school by offering tutorial programs.

“We want to motivate and stimulate the kids,” said Phil Pote, a Seattle Mariners scout. “We want kids to take the SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test), attract them to college, and then hopefully have them play ball at another level.”

All this might not have been possible if not for Brewer, who pitched 28 years, mainly with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues. In 1990, Brewer died at the age of 83. He had worked with inner-city youths through his baseball organization, the Chet Brewer Rookies.

He was responsible for helping produce several major leaguers out of South-Central, such as Willie Crawford, Dock Ellis, George Hendrick, Eddie Murray, Reggie Smith and Roy White.

“Brewer was a good guy,” Pote said. “He really made a lot of things happen for kids in South-Central. He was responsible for a lot of players reaching the major leagues.”

As expected, the scouts were in attendance for several tournament games with their radar guns and stopwatches.

“This is the first inner-city tournament in a long time and the RBI people did a good job,” said Angel scout Darrel Miller, who is the brother of USC women’s basketball Coach Cheryl Miller and Indiana Pacers forward Reggie Miller.

RBI executive director Mel Aaron, cousin of Atlanta Braves Hall of Famer and team vice president Hank Aaron, said “Things went fairly smoothly. The tournament has been well-organized. The better the quality of the program, the more we people we can get to support it.”

The support was there.

The Major League Baseball Association donated baseballs and former Dorsey graduates Sparky Anderson, who manages the Detroit Tigers, and Rene Lachemann, Florida Marlins manager, gave money to this year’s classic.

Marlins third baseman Terry Pendleton and former Fremont great Eric Davis were scheduled to pass out trophies last night at Dedeaux Field.

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The Fremont Pathfinders, who appeared exhausted after playing 10 games in 12 days, came into Wednesday’s contest against Hamilton with an idea that they might sneak out with a victory. But the then-winless Yankees had other plans.

Short of pitching, Fremont was rocked in the early going and could never recover as they were belted, 13-5, by Hamilton (1-11) in the RBI/Chet Brewer Baseball Classic.

Gus Castellanos (0-1), the starting center fielder, was asked by Fremont Coach Marshall Gelb to be the starting pitcher and provide some quality inning. But Castellanos lasted only one inning, giving up three runs on two hits and three walks.

“This was hard for me,” Castellanos said. “This is my first time pitching and it was difficult.”

The game started off well for the Pathfinders, who jumped to a 1-0 lead after Jorge Camacho scored from third base on Gilbert Barajas’ infield single.

But in the bottom half of the first, things unraveled.

Bill Marroquin, the Yankees’ leadoff hitter, walked and scored on Ryan Smith’s double. Mike Le Duff reached first after Smith was thrown out at third on a grounder to short. With two outs, Le Duff scored on two wild pitches to put Hamilton ahead 2-1.

After the Pathfinders were retired in order, Castellanos took the mound again and walked three consecutive batters to load the bases. Reliever Gilbert Barajas tried to restore order, but gave up a run scoring single to Lance Elzy.

Trailing 5-2 in the top of the fourth, the Pathfinders tried to close the gap when Jorge Camacho singled two runs in.

But the Yankees erupted for six runs in the bottom of the fourth off Barajas.

“(Barajas) tried to do the best he could,” Gelb said. “But my guys are just plain tired from all the other games.”

In other RBI tournament games:

In Thursday’s games, Dorsey defeated Jefferson, 3-1, at Dedeaux Field. Dons pitcher Reggie Douglas gave up an earned run on two hits to earn his first victory.

On Wednesday, Jefferson beat Locke, 9-3. Adrian Penaloza and Sergio Juarez each had two hits and two RBIs for the Democrats.

Jamayal Gutierrez pitched a five-hitter to lift Crenshaw over Hamilton, 3-1, in Tuesday’s action at Crystal Springs.

Jose Castenada led an 11-hit attack with two doubles and a single and scored four times as Locke defeated Dorsey, 12-10, Tuesday morning at East L.A. College.

Heriberto Gaeta had two hits, including a run-scoring single, for Jefferson. But the Democrats were defeated by Banning, 9-5, at Brookside Park Tuesday afternoon.

In other action on Tuesday, Washington defeated Huntington Park, 5-4, and Garfield beat Harvard-Westlake, 7-3, at Dedeaux Field.