MLB, USA Baseball Today Launching Play Ball Youth Initiative

MLB and USA Baseball today are formally launching Play Ball, a youth-driven initiative designed to boost baseball participation, even outside organized leagues and with less than two full teams. The effort will highlight various short-form versions of baseball that can be played outside of fully manned games, such as stickball, wiffleball and playing catch.

The campaign will take on numerous forms, including advertising in ballparks and during MLB game broadcasts, the creation of a website (PlayBall.org) and companion mobile app that will feature an array of educational resources for young players and coaches, the debut of a separate social media Play Ball portal at mlb.com/playball and special events. One such major upcoming event will be a planned game of catch at the P&G Cincinnati Urban Youth Academy on July 9 that will seek to set a Guinness World Record for the largest such game of catch.