Trayvon Robinson: a journey to and from South Central Los Angeles

Don't miss our newspaper story this morning on Trayvon Robinson and his journey from the streets of South Central Los Angeles to the big leagues with the Mariners. Robinson is the first graduate of Crenshaw High School to make it to the big leagues since Darryl Strawberry back in 1979. Back then, baseball was still a big part of the black community, but the numbers of such players participating in the game were already beginning to decline. We contacted Strawberry for the story and he told me it was tough to make it out of South Central back in those days, but still easier than it is today. Back then, Strawberry was playing alongside other future major leaguers like Crenshaw High teammate Chris Brown. The area also had other up-and-comers back then like Eric Davis, Chili Davis, and Ozzie Smith. They all emerged together and plenty of MLB attention was drawn towards the Los Angeles inner city. There was a much bigger support network back then as well, geared towards funneling ...