White Sox to host 2013 Civil Rights Game

During Major League Baseball’s highly successful Diversity Business Summit last July in Chicago, MLB executive vice president of baseball development Frank Robinson and MLB director of baseball operations initiatives Sylvia Lind were discussing the locale for the 2013 Civil Rights Game and its ancillary activities.

“He said, ‘We’ll take it, we’ll take it,'” said Robinson with a laugh, speaking at Tuesday afternoon’s news conference officially announcing the White Sox as the host of the seventh annual celebration of progress in baseball and society at large.

The White Sox had an African-American GM in Williams and an African-American manager Jerry Manuel working together from 2001-03, and their Amateur City Elite youth baseball program helped 12 minority players get Division I baseball scholarships last year.

Reinsdorf and Williams stressed the importance of the events beyond the game itself during the Civil Rights Game week.

“The Civil Rights Game and its surrounding events represent an integral way for Major League Baseball to recognize the courageous people who have fought — and continue to fight — injustice,” MLB Commissioner Allan H.

Chicago is one of the most diverse cities in the world, a melting pot of America with all the nationalities and cultures here,” said Frank Thomas, who played for 16 years with the White Sox and attended Tuesday’s news conference along with fellow White Sox legend Minnie Minoso.

Last year, the White Sox served as host of the first annual Business Diversity Summit, an event designed to draw job-seekers from all backgrounds for an entry to the game.

More than 1,000 applicants signed up for the opportunity to interview with MLB executives and businesses that sponsor and work directly with the game, a validation of the project created and developed by Wendy Lewis, MLB’s senior vice president of diversity and strategic alliances.

It was that Business Diversity Summit that helped bring about the natural fit between Chicago and the upcoming Civil Rights Game.

“Each time we thought about a city, we always came back to Chicago — with the enthusiasm and the rich history of the civil rights movement here, the people involved in the civil rights movement, the diversity in this city and what [Reinsdorf] has done for this city,” Robinson said