Ghost Town Royals

Last updated

The Oakland Royals is a children's and youth baseball team in a neighborhood of Oakland, California locally known as Ghost Town, that was founded in 2004 for children ages four to thirteen. [1] It was founded by Roscoe Bryant and a film was made about it by Gene Corr in 2010, called Ghost Town to Havana.

Contents

The team plays in a league consisting of five teams. [2]

In their first year, the Royals lost every game. After their trip to Havana, they turned things around and won their next 48 games.

Background

Roscoe and Lehi Bryant founded the team after witnessing the murder of Thomas Simpson, a 15-year-old freshman at McClymonds High School, in front of their house in 2004. They wanted to create an opportunity for the neighborhood's children, to keep them off the street. When they launched the team, they lacked resources and experience. A donation of a 1988 Dodge van helped them to provide transportation for the players. [3]

The equipment for the team was originally donated by Goodwill and Salvation Army. In their first year, the Royals lost every game they played. [1]

Bryant sought to expose the players to a wider world, and would arrange games across the San Francisco Bay in San Francisco. [4] In 2010, Bryant brought the team to Cuba, at the urging of film director Eugene Corr. Bryant was reluctant at first to take the trip, due to his skepticism about how his program and neighborhood are often portrayed in media. [4] He was persuaded when Corr agreed not to include stereotypical drug scenes, pimps, guns, or gangs in the film. [4]

Ghost Town to Havana documentary

A documentary film called Ghost Town to Havana was released on September 15, 2015 about the team's 2013 trip to Cuba. It was directed by Gene Corr. Corr conceived the idea for the film in 2007, when he met Nicolas Reyes, the coach in Havana featured in the documentary. [5] The film was screened for free on October 27, 2015, at Oakland's Grand Lake Theatre. [2] [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oakland, California</span> City in Alameda County, California, United States

Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay Area and the eighth most populated city in California. With a population of 440,646 in 2020, it serves as the Bay Area's trade center and economic engine: the Port of Oakland is the busiest port in Northern California, and the fifth busiest in the United States of America. The city was incorporated on May 4, 1852. Oakland is a charter city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Candlestick Park</span> Former stadium in San Francisco, California

Candlestick Park was an outdoor stadium on the West Coast of the United States, located in San Francisco's Hunters Point area. The stadium was originally the home of Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants, who played there from 1960 until 1999, after which the Giants moved into Pacific Bell Park in 2000. It was also the home field of the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League from 1971 through 2013. The 49ers moved to Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara for the 2014 season. The last event held at Candlestick was a concert by Paul McCartney in August 2014, and the demolition of the stadium was completed in September 2015. As of 2019, the site is planned to be redeveloped into office space.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oakland Coliseum</span> Sports stadium in Oakland, California

Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum is a stadium in Oakland, California. It is part of the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Complex, with the adjacent Oakland Arena, near Interstate 880. The Coliseum is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Oakland Athletics. In 2017, the playing surface was dedicated as Rickey Henderson Field in honor of Major League Baseball Hall of Famer and former Athletics left fielder Rickey Henderson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kezar Stadium</span> Outdoor athletic and football stadium in San Francisco

Kezar Stadium is an outdoor athletics stadium in San Francisco, California, located adjacent to Kezar Pavilion in the southeastern corner of Golden Gate Park. It is the former home of the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League (NFL) and of the San Francisco Dragons of Major League Lacrosse. It serves as the home of San Francisco City FC of USL League Two.

<i>Baseball Digest</i> Baseball magazine

Baseball Digest is a baseball magazine resource, published in Orlando, Florida by Grandstand Publishing, LLC. It is the longest-running baseball magazine in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vida Blue</span> American baseball player (1949–2023)

Vida Rochelle Blue Jr. was an American professional baseball player. He was a left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball from 1969 to 1986, most notably as an integral member of the Oakland Athletics dynasty that won three consecutive World Series championships from 1972 to 1974. He won the American League (AL) Cy Young Award and Most Valuable Player Award in 1971.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1989 World Series</span> 1989 Major League Baseball championship series

The 1989 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1989 season. The 86th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Oakland Athletics and the National League (NL) champion San Francisco Giants. The Series ran from October 14 through October 28, with the Athletics sweeping the Giants in four games. It was the first World Series sweep since 1976, when the Cincinnati Reds swept the New York Yankees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Francisco Seals (PCL)</span> Minor league baseball team

The San Francisco Seals were a minor league baseball team in San Francisco, California, that played in the Pacific Coast League from 1903 until 1957 before transferring to Phoenix, Arizona. The organization was named for the abundant California sea lion and harbor seal populations in the Bay Area. The 1909, 1922, 1925, and 1928 Seals were recognized as being among the 100 greatest minor league teams of all time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Miguel del Padrón</span> Municipality of Havana in Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba

San Miguel del Padrón is one of the 15 municipalities/boroughs into which the city of Havana, Cuba is divided. It is on Havana's south-eastern outskirts, stretching from Ciudad Mar to Diezmero and from Reparto Mañana to Caballo Blanco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lon Simmons</span>

Lonnie Alexander "Lon" Simmons was an American sports announcer, best known for his play-by-play broadcasts of San Francisco Giants baseball and San Francisco 49ers football.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pedro Gomez (journalist)</span> American sports journalist (1962–2021)

Pedro Gomez was an American sports journalist. He worked as a reporter for ESPN from 2003 to 2021, contributing to the network's SportsCenter show. He was primarily a baseball reporter and was also a member of the Baseball Writers' Association of America who cast election votes for the Baseball Hall of Fame. He covered 25 World Series and 22 Major League Baseball All-Star Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Estadio Latinoamericano</span> Stadium in Havana, Cuba

The Estadio Latinoamericano is a stadium in Havana, Cuba. It is primarily used for baseball, and is the second largest baseball stadium in the world by capacity. Gran Estadio, a spacious pitchers' park with prevailing winds blowing in and boasting a playing surface and lighting system of major-league quality, was built in 1946 as the top baseball park in Latin America. Located in the Cerro neighborhood, it opened with the name Gran Estadio de La Habana and currently holds about 55,000 people. In 1999, it also hosted an exhibition series between the Cuban National Team and the Baltimore Orioles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Davis (Oakland)</span> Section of Oakland Coliseum

Mount Davis, or Mt. Davis, is a section of 20,000 capacity seating at the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, California, United States. It was built in 1995 at the behest of Oakland City Council with the intent of bringing the Los Angeles Raiders American football team back to Oakland and is named after former Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis. Since 2006, the top-tier seating of Mount Davis has been covered by tarpaulin during all Oakland Athletics baseball games, and the Oakland Raiders followed suit in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barry Gifford</span> American author, poet, and screenwriter (born 1946)

Barry Gifford is an American author, poet, and screenwriter known for his distinctive mix of American landscapes and prose influenced by film noir and Beat Generation writers.

Ghost Town is the informal name of the Hoover-Foster Historic District neighborhood in West Oakland, Oakland, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sports in the San Francisco Bay Area</span> Overview of sports in the San Francisco Bay Area

The San Francisco Bay Area, which includes the major cities of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, hosts six major league sports franchises, as well as several other professional and college sports teams, and hosts other sports events.

Adrian Cárdenas Rubio is a former American professional baseball second baseman.

The American Series was a set of baseball games played between Cuban and American teams in Cuba. An American team would travel to Cuba and play various professional, all-star and/or amateur Cuban teams throughout the country. The series usually took place either in the fall, after the end of the American season, or during spring training before the season began. The first American Series took place in 1879, with then minor league Worcester team going 2–0 against its Cuban opponents.

Catherine Murphy is a U.S. filmmaker, activist and educator, best known for her documentary film MAESTRA about the 1961 Cuban Literacy Campaign. Her work principally focuses on social justice and literacy in the Americas. Murphy founded The Literacy Project in 2004 and Tres Musas Producciones in 2009.

References

  1. 1 2 Johnson, Chip (October 15, 2015). "Baseball just another word for life in Oakland's Ghost Town" . San Francisco Chronicle . Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  2. 1 2 Barney, Chuck (October 21, 2015). "'Ghost Town to Havana': A compelling story of baseball, love and hope in Oakland". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  3. Ostler, Scott (June 22, 2007). "Baseball Brings Life, Hope To Mean Streets / Boy's death spurs Oakland couple to save neighborhood kids one game at a time" . San Francisco Chronicle.
  4. 1 2 3 Alvero, Erika (April 7, 2016). "Baseball film reflects relationship between the East Bay and Cuba".
  5. 1 2 Harber, Stephen (October 27, 2015). "Talking Baseball With Ghost Town to Havana's Director Eugene Corr and Star Coach Roscoe Bryant". SF Weekly. Retrieved June 30, 2016.

Further reading