I am writing on behalf of our teenage boys and young men who love the game of baseball and would like to see the resumption of the Double-A Baseball League on the island of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. This league has not functioned for more than 15 years. However, the league was operating well when I was a youngster.
Because of the skills and experience I gained from playing in the Double-A Baseball League, I was able to receive an athletic scholarship to attend Fisk University in 1967. I played on the baseball team for four years, and in 1968 our team won the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship (SIAC). On November 9, 2018, Elridge Blake and I were inducted into the Fisk University Sports Hall of Fame. Ulric Smalls, who also played on the baseball team at Fisk University, was posthumously inducted into the Fisk Sports Hall of Fame.
In March 1974, an All-Star Baseball Team was selected to represent the Virgin Islands in the Central American and Caribbean Games, which was held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. After the tournament was concluded, three of our baseball players were on the list of the top 10 hitters that participated in the games. The three players that were on the list were: Burnett Thomas, Clayton Knight, and me. Some of the countries that were represented in the games were Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Venezuela.
I believe that it is time that the Double-A Baseball League be restored. The absence of the league has deprived our teenage boys and young men from developing their baseball skills which would have enabled them to obtain baseball scholarships to attend colleges and universities and receive degrees like Elridge Blake, Ulric Smalls, and I have done.
I received a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Education in 1971. I returned to St. Thomas and I was employed by the Department of Education as a physical education teacher in February 1971. I was assigned to teach at the former Wayne Aspinall Junior High School from 1971 to 1977. At the conclusion of the 1977-78 school year, I attended Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts, where I obtained a Master of Education degree in 1978.
I am hoping that those of us who are in the position to rectify the unfortunate situation that our players have been subjected to for many years will assist in remedying this matter and restore the Double-A Baseball League.
