“Cross-country tour provides COVID-19 supplies, baseball gear to Black communities
A big black semi-trailer truck full of gear and cheer rolled into the Bronx on Tuesday, ready to deliver to those in need.
Adorned with the logo of The Players Alliance, a nonprofit organization comprised of more than 150 active and former Major League players, the truck was the embodiment of an effort to put weight behind words and to bring needed COVID-19, food and baseball resources to the underserved in Black communities.
“With everything that we have behind us,” said former pitcher CC Sabathia, a member of the Players Alliance, “I don’t think we can be stopped.”
In the midst of civil unrest on American streets this past summer, several players and teams chose not to play scheduled games, in protest of racial injustice. And for the members of The Players Alliance, sitting out meant stepping up. The group’s members donated more than $1 million of their game-day salaries to invest in The Players Alliance’s cause, and MLB has since donated an additional $1 million worth of supplies and baseball equipment for the Alliance’s Gear for Good program.
Earlier this year, in joint support with the MLB Players Association, MLB contributed $10 million to help fund innovative programs designed by The Players Alliance.
The result is the two-month tour that began in New York on what is nationally known as Giving Tuesday. In partnership with Pull Up Neighbor, a Black-owned community response team, the cross-country tour will bring a pop-up pantry, COVID-19 supplies (face masks, hand sanitizer, cleaning supplies and hygiene products) and baseball gear to communities disproportionately affected by the pandemic.
After continuing in New York City with a Brooklyn stop on Friday, the tour will roll on down the East Coast, on to the Midwest and into the South before venturing out to the West Coast. In all, the Pull Up Neighbor tour will reach 33 cities in 19 states and the District of Columbia.”
