Jimmy Rollins joins panel to discuss state of youth sports during coronavirus pandemic

Jimmy Rollins’ 17-year career was full of success, but it all started with him playing in Major League Baseball’s RBI program as a kid in Oakland.

The former Phillies star shortstop joined former Angels GM Tony Reagins, softball star Jennie Finch, Little League President and CEO Stephen Keener and Stanford medical professor Jayanta Bhattacharya in an online forum hosted by Senator Pat Toomey to discuss the state of youth sports during the coronavirus pandemic.

Rollins and the panel members spoke notably about how baseball and softball are outside sports, which Dr. Bhattacharya said bodes better for the sports’ return. They also have a natural social distance with players being spread out across the field.

“Indoors, the virus has a better chance of spreading, so why not be outdoors?” Rollins said. “We don’t want to stop living our lives, we don’t want to stop having our normalities, and right now, none of that exists."

Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) is a youth program designed to give kids in underserved and minority communities a chance to play baseball and softball. CC Sabathia, Carl Crawford, and the Upton brothers (Justin and B.J.) are some of the program’s other notable alumni.

“In many places where kids don’t have a chance to do anything other than basketball or maybe football, here is a chance to introduce them to a sport where you literally sit there and rely on the next person to do their job," Rollins said. “You learn to lean on others and trust others. As kids, they’re selfish. Everything is mine, mine, mine, but with sports, there is no mine."

Rollins has three daughters and said he would be comfortable allowing them to join their little league teams with the proper protocols in place.

Finch, who is arguably the most popular U.S. softball player of all time, echoed Rollins’ sentiments and believes this is an important part of childhood for budding softball players. She emphasized the importance of safety being the first option, but she knows first-hand how youth sports can help someone build toward success.

According to the Women’s Sports Foundation, when young women are involved in high school athletics, they are 92% less likely to get involved with drugs, 80% less likely to get pregnant and three times more likely to graduate than non-athletes.

“I’ve seen over and over how sports transform young women especially,” Finch said. “With those staggering numbers, we’ve got to get those kids back out on the playing field."