As the baseball season draws closer at every level from the major leagues to Little League, there are few in Maine who have to worry about youth gangs taking over baseball fields and preventing kids from playing.

Unfortunately, such concerns do exist nationally.

The first Urban Invitational baseball tournament was held at the Major League Baseball Urban Youth Academy in Compton, Calif., this month. It involved baseball teams from UCLA, USC, Southern University and Bethune-Cookman.

The latter two schools are traditionally African-American schools and neither had played USC or UCLA previously.

They played a round-robin tournament, but the real plan was to draw attention to the effort to revive inner-city baseball.

“It has been a tremendous opportunity to showcase the historical black colleges and universities and a chance for the commissioner’s initiative on African-American participation in baseball to be even further enhanced,” said Jimmie Lee Solomon, MLB vice president of operations.

The Academy in Compton is one of many programs in metropolitan areas designed to bring youngsters back to baseball through organized leagues and instruction. Most importantly, such programs give the kids a safe place to play.

Former major leaguers on hand for the Invitational included Hall of Famer Frank Robinson, former Red Sox outfielder Reggie Smith and MLB executive Bob Watson.

They all repeated the need to find a way to bring the inner-city kids back to the diamond, not just for the purpose of playing the game, but for the educational help the inner-city programs also bring.

The Academy in Compton not only has the baseball fields, but it provides a computer center for the youngsters involved and it works with local colleges to provide college-level educational opportunities for the kids.

Such efforts have also been undertaken by the rbi program – Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities – that is supported by MLB.

The sad recital from the former MLB players on hand was the degree to which fields in the inner cities have literally been taken over by gangs.

Such sites provide space, in cities where there is little, for gangs to meet. Youngsters who might want to play there are not welcomed and quickly realize it is a dangerous place to be.

The rbi programs in major cities attempt to take some of these parks back and create new facilities.

The Compton Academy is in fact just such a new site in an area that has a tough reputation.

MLB obviously has an interest in bringing youngsters in the inner city back to baseball, both as players and fans. More importantly, these programs are an opportunity for the future for the kids.

bdnsports@bangordailynews.net