SPORTS | Striving for excellence
03 December 2008
Baseball Plays Key Role in State Department Public Diplomacy
Ken Griffey Jr. to join other U.S. baseball greats in traveling abroad
Washington — Baseball star Ken Griffey Jr., who is known both for his home-run hitting skills and his community service, is the newest American public diplomacy envoy. He joins other baseball greats, such as Cal Ripken Jr., Dennis Martinez, Barry Larkin, Bernie Williams and B.J. Surhoff, as part of the State Department’s public diplomacy effort.
“Baseball, of course, is America’s national pastime,” said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in announcing Griffey’s appointment November 18. “When Ken Griffey travels overseas, one of his greatest objectives will be to talk to young people and to spark their interest in America and in our culture.”
Rice added that “public diplomacy must be a dialogue. And this dialogue must extend to every citizen in every country, especially to young people.”
Griffey is planning to travel to Panama in January 2009. Currently ranked fifth on Major League Baseball’s all-time home run list with 611 home runs, Griffey has played for the Seattle Mariners, Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox.
“Ken has been his team’s nominee to receive the Roberto Clemente Award three times when he was in Seattle and twice in Cincinnati,” Rice said. “And this is given to the major leaguer who combines outstanding skills on the field with service to the community.” The Ken Griffey Jr. Family Foundation supports several causes, including the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and a number of children's hospitals across the United States.
Baseball is becoming more popular worldwide. U.S. baseball players have traveled to a wide range of countries under the auspices of the State Department: Williams went to Colombia and Venezuela; Larkin to Colombia; Ripken to China and Nicaragua. In China, Ripken was joined by former teammate Surhoff, and in Nicaragua, he was joined by former teammate Martinez.
There are more trips planned for U.S. baseball greats. In addition to Griffey’s trip to Panama, Larkin will travel to Venezuela. Ripken, who in 2007 was the first baseball player to travel to China as part of the U.S. public diplomacy effort, will be making history again. In spring 2009, he will travel to South Africa. That country has never produced a Major League Baseball player, but in the 2006 World Baseball Classic, its young team almost beat baseball powerhouse Canada.
The aim of public diplomacy through baseball is to encourage communication between the peoples of these countries and the American people. In introducing Griffey, Rice emphasized: “The job of public diplomacy is not the job of the U.S. government alone. It has to be shared by all Americans. And I am so very proud that Ken Griffey Jr. has stepped up to that task of helping us to share the story of America, the culture of America, and the values of America.”
Many of the envoys have used their experience helping youth in America through baseball to teach life skills to youth abroad. Larkin, for example, brought to Colombia the Academy of Champions program he and his associates developed to help improve the academic performance of young athletes.
“We have a whole program that we talk about, life lessons that you learn through sports,” Larkin said. “We’ve married baseball and education together and we took that program — the actual baseball curriculum and study-skill curriculum — down to these different countries. … Everybody believes that education is the foundation of making these kids better, and these are some of the solutions we bring to them. That’s what we did down in Colombia and that’s what we will do once we go to Venezuela,” he said in an interview.
Ripken writes in his blog about his Nicaragua trip: “Baseball connects people and supersedes any language barriers that might exist. That said, we don’t want to just make one journey to a country and simply leave. After my trip to China [in October 2007], my brother Bill made a follow-up trip earlier this year and we are working with the people in China to bring a Chinese team to the Cal Ripken World Series. I want to make sure that we are back in Nicaragua and working with Dennis [Martinez] to help more kids follow and develop their passion for baseball. I believe it is a relatively untapped resource of talent at all levels.”
These visits make a difference. Martinez, the famed Nicaraguan-born pitcher, describes the reaction of Nicaraguan kids to Ripken’s visit: “It made a great impact on those kids. I was able to see the brightness in their eyes. … They were thinking: How could we have Cal Ripken who we see on TV and now we have him here? … It was unbelievable; it was a great experience for them and it will stay with them for the rest of their lives.”
A transcript of remarks by Griffey and Rice at the November 18 announcement is available on the State Department Web site.
Cal Ripken’s Nicaragua trip blog also is available on the State Department Web site.
For more information, see “Baseball’s Cal Ripken Jr. and Dennis Martinez Visit Nicaragua” and “Baseball Icon Cal Ripken Using Sports to Bridge Cultures.”
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