Washington, DC, to Host RBI Program

Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI), a program sponsored by Major League Baseball (MLB) to promote the game of baseball to kids in underserved areas, is coming to Washington.

D.C. Grays Baseball, a non-profit organization devoted to supporting baseball in inner-city D.C., will be operating the RBI program in a partnership with MLB, Grays President and Founder Michael Barbera announced. Grays also announced the donation of baseball equipment and apparel to the John Philip Sousa Middle School baseball program.

D.C. Grays Baseball will operate seven teams in “D.C. Grays RBI” for 2016 – five baseball teams and two softball teams. Each team will play a 10-game minimum schedule with a school-based baseball or softball team or with a D.C. Grays RBI partner program. One baseball team and one softball team will represent Washington in the 2016 Major League Baseball RBI East Regional Tournament in Bowie, MD in August.

There will be no cost for D.C. Grays RBI to the kids or their families.

"When D.C. Grays Baseball was founded in 2012, our goal was to make the great game of baseball available and accessible to every kid in our community, regardless of ability to pay," Barbera said. "Now that we have revitalized the RBI program for D.C. and are helping the ballplayers at John Philip Sousa Middle School, we are fulfilling our mission to be 'ambassadors for baseball' in Washington, D.C."