Major League Baseball today announced that Macon RBI –Baseball would be one of the teams playing in the seventh annual Jr. Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI)  Classic, a friendly, round-robin tournament consisting of more than one hundred young baseball and softball players held each year during MLB All-Star Week.  The event provides kids (ages 11-12 from Jr. RBI playing divisions) with the opportunity to participate in All-Star Week events and other off-field experiences, including rooming on a college campus, giving back to the community and meeting current and former Major Leaguers. The tournament will be played from July 10^th to July 13^th on fields throughout Cincinnati, the host city of the 86^th MLB All-Star Game.  

The Macon-RBI team is one of 11 teams chosen from 200 cities to participate in this all expense paid trip by MLB. This is significant because there are 300 leagues in 200 cities worldwide.

“The RBI program overall has 230,000 boys and girls participating, and the fact that we will have 12 boys ages 11 and 12 chosen out of that large a pool is remarkable,” said Jeff Battcher, MACON RBI LeagueAdministrator.

As part of their All-Star experience, the young participants will help give back by helping to package food for families facing hunger with The Giving Fields, a community farm located in Melbourne, Kentucky which is part of the Freestore Foodbank and provides fresh produce for Northern Kentucky food pantries, soup kitchens, and other agencies that provide emergency food. All participants will also have the opportunity to visit the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

The Jr. RBI playing divisions, established in 2009, provide opportunities to play baseball and softball to young people ages 5 to 12, and serve as a feeder program to the 13-18 age playing divisions of the RBI program.