By RICHIE HALL
WESTFIELD – After months of lockdown and quarantine, so many people are ready to get outside and play ball – from the little kids to Major League Baseball players.
A few of those major-league stars made their way to Grand Park Friday morning, including Tucker Barnhart. The Cincinnati Reds catcher posted on Twitter earlier in the week about having a workout at some of the fields on the campus. Barnhart and some other players had been doing that at ProX in Westfield, but the Brownsburg native and former Mr. Baseball tweeted out the suggestion of going outside.
“I was kind of naïve in thinking it wouldn’t really explode a little bit,” said Barnhart. “Once I started getting texts from guys in Ohio and a couple from Kentucky, I was like ‘Oh, boy, this could be a little bit larger than I thought,’” said Barnhart.
Fairly soon, it wasn’t just other players expressing interest. Fans asked if the workout would be open to the public. Barnhart liked the idea, and suggested raising donations for a charity. A $5 admission was established, with the proceeds going to Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI), an MLB youth outreach program designed to increase participation and interest in baseball and softball among underserved youth.
The result was a resounding success – a home run, if you will. A good time was had by the players and the fans, and $2,000 was raised for RBI. Barnhart met with people from RBI and some young players after the workout.
“We were bouncing around some ideas, and when the idea came up of RBI, it was a no-brainer,” said Barnhart. “Obviously they have a great relationship with Major League Baseball, so that’s one of things.
“For me, some of the best advice I’ve ever gotten growing up, and I told it to the kids, was ‘Never be bigger than the game.’ And to me, what that means and the way that I take that is, whenever you are in a position to give back things that you were taught growing up that helped mold who you are, not only as a player, but as a person, I feel like RBI does a great job of that. They give opportunity to people that may not have always had opportunities to get out and play.”
Barnhart wasn’t the only former Mr. Baseball in attendance. MLB veteran Clayton Richard, a McCutcheon star who also won the Mr. Baseball award, was there to throw a few pitches as well, with Barnhart catching him. Around 40 college and pro players wound up attending, and so did many fans.
“As players, we feed off fans, whether it’s five or whether it’s 50,000,” said Barnhart. “It’s a blast to play in front of people. I’m a baseball fan. So for me, just being able to sit on the side and watch guys play and watch guys compete. That makes you want to do better.”
While the whole event was fun, Barnhart admitted that he hopes they don’t do it again – that would mean the players are in Spring Training and ready to get out and play ball.
“If we have to do it again, there’s no better place to do it than here,” said Barnhart. “We got a really good contingent of guys that came out today, and then I think that it’ll only get bigger if we ended up doing it again. In my opinion, it went well.”
MLB veteran Clayton Richard throws a few pitches at Grand Park. Richard is a McCutcheon graduate and former Indiana Mr. Football and Mr. Baseball. (Richie Hall)