Ripken pitches city ball

By EMILY BATTLE

The Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation has been talking with Fredericksburg leaders about establishing a partnership with the city unlike any relationship the foundation has had with a locality in its five-year history.

The group uses baseball and softball to teach lessons about sportsmanship, character and decision-making to young people. It seeks to provide disadvantaged youth with opportunities they would never have otherwise.

Cal Ripken Jr. and his brother, Bill Ripken, formed the foundation in honor of their father, Cal Ripken Sr., who was a player, coach and manager within the Baltimore Orioles organization for 37 years. Ripken Sr. died in 1999.

Ripken Jr.'s sights were turned on Fredericksburg after last spring's College World Series in Omaha, Neb. Omaha native and investing legend Warren Buffett, an avid baseball fan, knew Ripken Jr. was in town for the games, and invited him to dinner.

As they dined, the pair talked about the Ripken foundation's work with young people, and Ripken returned to Baltimore asking his staff how his organization could partner with the Buffett family on a youth-serving venture.

Ripken's publicist happened to know the sister of Fredericksburg attorney Charles Payne, who does pro-bono work for Doris Buffett, a local philanthropist who is Warren Buffett's sister.

Payne said Ripken's publicist called him one day and asked if he'd be interested in helping to set up a partnership between Fredericksburg and the Ripken foundation.

"I said, 'Are you kidding?'" Payne said yesterday. "This is a great gift, I think, having these guys here."

He and City Councilwoman Debby Girvan put together a meeting of local business and education leaders yesterday to hear a presentation by the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation about what it is proposing to do in Fredericksburg.

Chuck Brady, the group's deputy executive director, said the foundation is looking for a "green light" from the community, in the form of willing partner organizations and donors, and is prepared to contribute $150,000 to jump-start a multifaceted program in the city .

That program has two main parts.

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The Ripken program

These are the components of the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation's "Play Ball" program, proposed for Fredericksburg. All of these things would be funded by a combination of foundation grants and community fundraising:

Baseball and softball equipment grants of $10,000 apiece to community youth-serving organizations that partner with the foundation.

At least two one-day clinics each year taught in Fredericksburg by staff from the foundation's facility in Aberdeen, Md.

"Quickball"--a fast-paced, indoor version of baseball--kits distributed to youth organizations and schools.

"Healthy Choices, Healthy Children" educational program materials for participating organizations.

Establishing a Fredericksburg baseball festival to draw young players from around the state and country.

Sending dozens of Fredericksburg youth each summer to the foundation's youth-sized version of Camden Yards in Aberdeen, Md., for an all-expense-paid week at the foundation's baseball camp.

Foundation and community fundraising for upgraded baseball facilities in the city.

Read more stories about Fredericksburg
Date published: 11/30/2006

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