{"id":81139,"date":"2019-07-12T12:20:13","date_gmt":"2019-07-12T17:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=81139"},"modified":"2019-07-12T12:20:13","modified_gmt":"2019-07-12T17:20:13","slug":"geico-city-series-hopes-to-increase-media-exposure-for-high-school-baseball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/geico-city-series-hopes-to-increase-media-exposure-for-high-school-baseball\/","title":{"rendered":"GEICO City Series hopes to increase media exposure for high school baseball"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ben Friedl<\/strong>
\nMedill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n

High school baseball in urban-areas often doesn\u2019t get the recognition it deserves. The GEICO Baseball City Series, a new all-star baseball tournament held in Chicago, Illinois with teams representing Chicago, New York, Miami, and Los Angeles, is on a mission to change that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to give inner-cities a chance to showcase themselves, have a chance to be on television, and give them a sense of pride that they\u2019re playing for their city,\u201d said GEICO City Series executive director Rashid Ghazi.<\/p>\n

Ghazi has experience with broadcasting high school sports showcases. He was heavily involved with televising LeBron\u2019s first ever game on ESPN, and hopes this event, which was broadcast live on ESPNU, can spark popularity for nationally televised high school baseball.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cLocal news and newspapers have really put all their resources into covering football and basketball,\u201d said Ghazi. \u201cBut with the growth of social media, high school baseball has a tremendous opportunity to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also, while national sports media outlets such as ESPN and FOX have been broadcasting high school basketball and football high school showcase games to national audiences since the early 2000\u2019s, high school baseball has yet to be given the same platform.<\/p>\n

Media outlets such as Baseball Prospectus and Baseball America cover high school baseball extensively, while each also have large social media followings. And while the Little League world series is broadcast by ESPN every year, City Series coaches realize that in the modern-day sports media landscape, TV time for high school baseball can be hard to come by.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Team Miami stuntin’ for a quick photo. (Lani Tons\/Who’s Next HS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s why some kids don\u2019t want to play baseball anymore,\u201d New York coach Elvis Valdez said.<\/p>\n

To combat inner-city disinterest, Major League Baseball\u2019s Urban Youth Baseball Academy and Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) programs are striving to provide state of-the-art facilities in urban areas across the country. Regardless of whether these initiatives prove to be successful, media coverage of inner-city high school baseball remains minimal.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven just a small newspaper excerpt,\u201d New York coach Ramon Canela said. \u201cSomething simple because I think it gives kids more incentive to want to play. They\u2019re teenagers and seeing your name in a newspaper goes a long way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut something like this series is taking things in the right direction,\u201d Canela said.<\/p>\n

Chicago coach Dave Rosene hopes the attention garnered through playing a game on national TV can capture the attention of the next generation of ballplayers.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe some kids in 3rd grade who weren\u2019t thinking of going into baseball will say, \u2018hey I want to be like Team Chicago and play on TV\u2019,\u201d Rosene said.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Team Chicago outfielder Robert Walker III runs back to the dugout at the end of an inning.(Lani Tons\/Who’s Next HS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Additionally, media exposure often plays a vital role in the college recruitment process for inner-city talent.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs advanced as recruiting is, I can\u2019t tell you how many coaches have called me and said, \u2018We know you were here for Kevin Durant, but my other kids were able to get scholarships because they were on TV\u2019,\u201d Ghazi said.<\/p>\n

Consequently, performing your best on national television on Thursday could be crucial in bolstering players\u2019 recruiting stock.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe type of exposure that they\u2019re getting is really hard to get,\u201d said Valdez. \u201cThis is a once in a lifetime opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Photo at top: Team Chicago infielders Donavan Noble and Omar Garcia share some laughs during their first game against Team New York. (Lani Tons\/Who’s Next HS)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ben Friedl Medill Reports High school baseball in urban-areas often doesn\u2019t get the recognition it deserves. The GEICO Baseball City Series, a new all-star baseball tournament held in Chicago, Illinois with teams representing Chicago, New York, Miami, and Los Angeles, is on a mission to change that. \u201cWe want to give inner-cities a chance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":541,"featured_media":81141,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4741],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spring-2019"],"yoast_head":"\nGEICO City Series hopes to increase media exposure for high school baseball - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/geico-city-series-hopes-to-increase-media-exposure-for-high-school-baseball\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"GEICO City Series hopes to increase media exposure for high school baseball - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Ben Friedl Medill Reports High school baseball in urban-areas often doesn\u2019t get the recognition it deserves. The GEICO Baseball City Series, a new all-star baseball tournament held in Chicago, Illinois with teams representing Chicago, New York, Miami, and Los Angeles, is on a mission to change that. \u201cWe want to give inner-cities a chance […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/geico-city-series-hopes-to-increase-media-exposure-for-high-school-baseball\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-07-12T17:20:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/07\/City-Series-Cover-Photo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1910\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1273\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"benfriedl2019\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"benfriedl2019\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/geico-city-series-hopes-to-increase-media-exposure-for-high-school-baseball\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/geico-city-series-hopes-to-increase-media-exposure-for-high-school-baseball\/\",\"name\":\"GEICO City Series hopes to increase media exposure for high school baseball - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/geico-city-series-hopes-to-increase-media-exposure-for-high-school-baseball\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/geico-city-series-hopes-to-increase-media-exposure-for-high-school-baseball\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/07\/City-Series-Cover-Photo.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-07-12T17:20:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/22f27a6c1c582c01c1ee9cd8b828042c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/geico-city-series-hopes-to-increase-media-exposure-for-high-school-baseball\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/geico-city-series-hopes-to-increase-media-exposure-for-high-school-baseball\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/geico-city-series-hopes-to-increase-media-exposure-for-high-school-baseball\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/07\/City-Series-Cover-Photo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/07\/City-Series-Cover-Photo.jpg\",\"width\":1910,\"height\":1273,\"caption\":\"Team Chicago infielders Donavan Noble and Omar Garcia share some laughs during their first game against Team New York. 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