The Importance of An Invitation
By Ray Casas, Senior Director of Community Impact for the 2023 World Champion, Texas Rangers Baseball Club
On game days, as fans file into Globe Life Field, I see families roaming through our concourse, trying to figure out if they should grab a hot dog, a drink, or just go ahead and find their seats before first pitch. I think our eyes gravitate and search out what is familiar to us. My eyes gravitate to Latino families. Latino boys and girls, men, and women, that come and spend their hard-earned money to watch our Rangers win a baseball game and have a great, family experience. It reminds me of the day that my father took me to see my very first baseball game. It was 1981, Rangers versus Yankees at Arlington Stadium. I was six years old, and I've never forgotten, to this day. It was the day I fell in love with baseball.
As Senior Director of Community Impact for the 2023 World Champion, Texas Rangers Baseball Club, I am blessed to be able to watch any home game I want. And as much as I love watching a game at our beautiful ballpark, nothing brings me greater happiness then driving home after work as fast as I legally can and catching the ball game with my mom and my sister. There's something about watching a game with the ones you love. The Latinas in my life are very special to me and I can’t think about Texas Rangers Baseball without thinking about my family.
I also can’t imagine doing what I do for the Rangers without working with the incredibly talented and dedicated Latina colleagues like Nohely, Julia, Myra, Sarah, Taunee, Bryana and Delia. But the fact of the matter is that we need more Latinas in sports. And that's why in 2020, I created the Charley Pride Fellowship Program, aimed at attracting and hiring people from diverse backgrounds, including women to join our front office for a 10 week, paid, internship opportunity. This program gives juniors and seniors in college an opportunity to learn what it’s like to work for a Major League Baseball Team. We are currently hiring for our 4th Class of Charley Pride Fellows and the program is paying off with great success.
But the work to bring more Latinas into the sports industry goes beyond creating internship programs. We need to educate, reach out and invite young women, including Latinas, to consider being a part of our game. Do you remember the feeling of getting asked to a dance? A party? Or just being asked to be a part of a team? It’s an indescribable feeling because it means you’re wanted and seen as someone who can contribute to the team. We will start seeing more Latinas in sports when we start asking them to be a part of our game. When we start saying that we value their work ethic, their talents, and their perspective on family,
While our Charley Pride Fellowship Program is aimed at inviting diverse communities to be a part of our game, we all need to do our part by inviting everyone to be a part of sports. Diversity is a good thing. We're a long way from experiencing equity in sports but intentionality is crucial to having all voices represented in baseball. And that takes me back to walking the concourse of Globe Life Field on game day and watching families prepare for an exciting, Ranger’s game. I can’t help but notice a Latino family of five, looking for their seats. I see a young Latina wearing her Pudge Rodriguez jersey and think to myself, maybe, just maybe, someone will come into her life and say, “Would you like to be a part of our game?”