25 Words from "Baseball and Black History"

For Mo’ne, who grew up in a poor neighborhood here, life since her Sports Illustrated coronation has been electric: a meeting with the Obamas at the White House, a quickie memoir, an appearance in a Chevrolet commercial directed by Spike Lee, even a line of sneakers named for her.

For Mo’ne, who grew up in a poor neighborhood here, life since her Sports Illustrated coronation has been electric: a meeting with the Obamas at the White House, a quickie memoir, an appearance in a Chevrolet commercial directed by Spike Lee, even a line of sneakers named for her.

But over three weeks in late June and early July, she and 13 other kids on her team here — the rest of them boys, most of them black, all roughly her age — have a schedule of exhibition games across the country that mixes exhilarating notes with somber ones.

They’ll play ball, then visit Little Rock Central High School, a battleground in the fight to integrate schools.

They’ll play ball, then visit Little Rock Central High School, a battleground in the fight to integrate schools.

In a country still lurching toward racial harmony and looking to give underprivileged kids more grounding, grit and hope, it’s a compelling itinerary.

In a country still lurching toward racial harmony and looking to give underprivileged kids more grounding, grit and hope, it’s a compelling itinerary.

In a country still lurching toward racial harmony and looking to give underprivileged kids more grounding, grit and hope, it’s a compelling itinerary.

In a country still lurching toward racial harmony and looking to give underprivileged kids more grounding, grit and hope, it’s a compelling itinerary.

And at a time when corruption and criminal behavior have cast a pall over soccer, football, boxing and more, it’s a feel-good reminder of the positive impact that athletics can have on young people — on the way in which sports, too, can be a bridge.

Mo’ne told me that she relished the trip as a tribute to trailblazers who “put their lives out there and got beaten so that we could have the freedom we have.”

It applies to millions more — too many of them minorities — who are denied a real chance, maybe because there’s no one to guide them, maybe because no one ever spots and heralds their gifts.

He persuaded her mother, who was skeptical, that she had serious athletic talent, then mentored her, even helping to secure a scholarship for her at a private school.

Bandura, 54, has intervened in a similar fashion for hundreds of other kids who were or are members of his team, the Anderson Monarchs.

The team is named for Marian Anderson, who in 1955 became the first black singer to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, and for the Kansas City Monarchs, a standout in the Negro Leagues back when professional baseball was segregated.

In fact, the bus that the Monarchs will use on their summer adventure is from 1947, the year that Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier.

With the program he constructed a trade: He gives kids the fun of the game and the camaraderie of a tightly knit crew, and they reciprocate by working hard in school — many of them are top students — and paying rapt attention to lessons beyond baseball.

With the program he constructed a trade: He gives kids the fun of the game and the camaraderie of a tightly knit crew, and they reciprocate by working hard in school — many of them are top students — and paying rapt attention to lessons beyond baseball.

With the program he constructed a trade: He gives kids the fun of the game and the camaraderie of a tightly knit crew, and they reciprocate by working hard in school — many of them are top students — and paying rapt attention to lessons beyond baseball.

...a summer tour in 2012 of cities and stadiums that were important in the Negro Leagues, Bandura required that they study up on the history of baseball and its integration. Continue reading the main storySlide Show A Day With the Anderson Monarchs Go to previous slideGo to next slide Mo’ne Davis pitching against the Burlington Falcons on...

...slide He reasons that if they appreciate how the road was paved for them, they’ll be more likely to take full advantage of it. If they see what African-Americans endured and accomplished, they’ll understand their own strength and abilities. They’ll also understand their obligation, which isn’t just to benefit from progress but to perpetuate it, for the kids who...

...If they see what African-Americans endured and accomplished, they’ll understand their own strength and abilities. They’ll also understand their obligation, which isn’t just to benefit from progress but to perpetuate it, for the kids who come next. He tells them constantly how crucial teenagers and college students were to the civil rights movement. “I want to send...

Angry,” he said.

How does he manage that anger?

“I just sit down and wait until it goes away,” he said.

He’s an elfin boy, so I was surprised when he told me that his greatest ambition was to play professional football.

“Do you have the size for that?”

Credit Jessica Lehrman for The New York Times “Zion was always very shy, not very outspoken,” she told me. Now he chatters. He opines. He came home one night after Bandura had shown the movie “Selma” to the team and discussed it at length with her, admitting that it had made him cry...

...education. They’re informed that they’re going to college, period. This is hammered into them by the fence around their South Philly baseball diamond. It’s bedecked with banners signaling the alma maters of former Monarchs: Temple University, Penn State, the University of Pennsylvania. The kids are also instructed that they’re ambassadors of the inner city and that in baseball, as...