The Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees have been American League baseball rivals for 125 years, including moments where the fan bases for both teams have proudly and loudly made their loyalties known.
This certainly was the case in 2012, when Detroit fans had bragging rights after the Tigers completed a four-game sweep of the Yankees in the American League Championship Series to reach the World Series, which also was the Tigers’ most recent appearance in the “Fall Classic.”
But on Detroit’s west side, the Yankees have been cheered for and loved since 1970, thanks to the Yankee Baseball Organization, a charter member of the Detroit Police Athletic League (PAL).
Founded by the late Charley C. Moore Jr., Detroit’s version of the Yankees has touched thousands of young people who have gone on to become leaders, mentors and pillars in their community.
“Mr. Moore believed in the power of sports to teach discipline, teamwork, accountability, and hope,” Detroit west sider Sam Abrams said about Moore, who died Jan. 11 at the age of 94 after a lifelong journey of helping others, including Moore’s dedicated service to the U.S. Air Force; U.S. Postal Service; Detroit Public Schools; Boy Scouts of America, as a Cubmaster; along with being a longtime youth baseball coach through the Yankee Baseball Organization.
Abrams continued: “Mr. Moore’s legacy lives on through every life he influenced, every lesson taught on and off the field, and every young person who was given an opportunity because he cared.”
When Abrams talks about Moore’s legacy, he speaks with conviction, because Abrams is doing his part to keep that legacy alive as president and volunteer coach for the Yankee Baseball Organization.
And during the afternoon of May 12, Abrams did much more than talk about Moore’s legacy as he led the latest edition of young Yankee baseball players through an action-packed practice at Noble Elementary-Middle School, 8646 Fullerton, in Detroit’s Littlefield Community.
Abrams, a former manager of player relations youth and sports programs for the Detroit Tigers, displayed his baseball know-how and ingenuity by transforming a room inside the school that is normally used as a cafeteria into a vibrant baseball play space.
Within that space, which spilled out into the hallway, 19 kids, ranging in age from 5 to 10, were able to soak up baseball fundamentals while rotating between multiple stations that taught different skills during a chilly afternoon that was far from ideal for a lengthy practice outdoors.
But inside, the temperature was comfortable and the young players were able to maintain their intensity and focus throughout the roughly two-hour session.
The warm and cozy indoor environment also provided some not-so-young admirers of the Yankees and Moore’s legacy to take in the Yankees first practice of the season, including 92-year-old Walter Forbers, who said that the spirit of Charley Moore definitely could be felt inside Noble School.
“Mr. Moore was a man’s man, and we have had doctors, lawyers, baseball players and all kinds of successful professional people come out of the Yankees with character. Because that was Mr. Moore’s No. 1 thing — character,” Forbers said of Moore, who he also knew well through their shared longtime membership at Carter Metropolitan CME Church in Detroit.
“The Yankee Organization is one of the best and my heart is full because the Yankees are still going on. It’s still carrying on today because young Yankee boys grow up to be Yankee men that come back to teach and coach the kids. It takes everybody to raise kids, especially boys, and the coaches we have now are doing a good job.”
As Forbers spoke, he did not have to look far to identify former “Yankee boys” that are now giving back to the program. Because, at that moment, his youngest son, Christopher, was instructing young Yankee players on how to get “in the ready position” to field ground balls.
Standing even closer to Forbers was his oldest son, Anthony, a former player and coach in the Yankee program for more than 20 years, who now makes his contribution as the organization’s volunteer treasurer.
And while Forbers’ oldest son is now less connected to the action that takes place during practices and games, he says the lessons he learned as a young Yankee player never left him.
“I came to the Yankees as a kid (beginning as a 10-year-old in 1977) because I like sports. And I came back as an adult because of the impact the Yankees made on my life,” explained Anthony Forbers, who preceded his brother Christopher as a member of the Yankees and at Cass Technical High School, where they graduated in 1985 and 1990, respectively.
“After high school, I went to engineering school and it was highly competitive. And one of the things that got me through was my competitiveness, which I learned from the Yankees. The Yankees also played a big part in giving me the character that I needed to get through the program (at Kettering University) to earn a degree in mechanical engineering. So, I know firsthand the impact that the Yankees can have on a young person’s life.
“Back when I was playing, I had my family — I had my mother, and my father, and I had the village as well, which included the Yankee Baseball Organization. And that need has not diminished at all. In fact, the organization is probably needed even more now given the status of our children and their need for role models.”
Just as Anthony Forbers credits his Yankee experience for helping him to excel during his school days, Nicole Hurd, a new addition to the Yankees coaching staff this season, says the program also is positively impacting students at Noble, which is a primary source of participants for today’s Yankee Baseball Organization.
“Seeing kids who have a bunch of energy have a chance to give their all to something they really care about is really good for them,” Hurd, a special education teacher at Noble for grades 1 through 5, said. “The biggest thing for me is giving our kids the same opportunities that children have in the suburbs because our children deserve that equal access. That’s my passion.”
Passion also could be heard in the voice of Melissa Thompson, the mother of Messiah Brooks, who, at 10 years old, and in his second year on the team, is already viewed as a Yankee veteran among most of his teammates.
“I think it’s very important to have a program like this that gives the kids something to do after school and provides leadership in our neighborhood,” said Thompson, who brings her son to Noble for practices as soon as his day ends at a school in Southfield.
“My son was so excited about coming to this practice, and he’s excited for the upcoming year because last year his team was amazing and they made it all the way to the playoffs. But regardless of how they do on the field, all of our kids need guidance and they need motivators like our coaches, and they also need something to be excited about. But our parents also have to bring their kids to things like this so that they can see what is possible.”
And for every young person who participates with the Yankees this season — including Anthony Duhart, a third grader at Noble who wants to “feel the power of baseball and find out why the game is so satisfying to people;” and Shawn Mitchell, a fourth grader at Bradford Academy in Southfield, who just wanted to experience baseball for himself after hearing good things from his schoolmate, Messiah Brooks — there also will be an opportunity to receive instructions from a real-life former Major League Baseball player, Ike Blessitt, who was called up from the minor leagues in 1972 in time to close out the regular season with the Detroit Tigers.
Blessitt’s legs are no longer able to power him around the bases, but from his motorized chair inside the converted Noble cafeteria, he appeared to be enjoying himself as much as anyone while sharing his vast baseball knowledge with young Yankee players.
“It’s an honor that Sam Abrams calls me up and asks me to help him out because it’s important to take time out for our kids because they need guidance and role models,” said Blessitt, who, after being managed in Detroit for a few games by the legendary Billy Martin, now says he is much happier to be able to share his wisdom with youngsters that will be participating in the “coach pitch,” 10-and-under, and 8-and-under divisions of Detroit PAL baseball this summer. “For our kids, I try to be that father that a young man may not have, or that mentor.
“But the main focus of this program is focus — helping kids focus on living a good life, focus on achieving their goals and focus on being leaders in their community.”
Scott Talley is a native Detroiter, a proud product of Detroit Public Schools and a lifelong lover of Detroit culture in its diverse forms. In his second tour with the Free Press, which he grew up reading as a child, he is excited and humbled to cover the city’s neighborhoods and the many interesting people who define its various communities. Contact him at stalley@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @STalleyfreep. Read more of Scott’s stories at www.freep.com/mosaic/detroit-is/. Please help us grow great community-focused journalism by becoming a subscriber.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: On Detroit’s west side, this Yankees team has had cheers for 56 years
Reporting by Scott Talley, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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