FORT WORTH, Texas — As was baseball shut down last year, COVID-19 was raging and social injustice had been brought to everyone’s attention, Charley Pride brought an idea to the Texas Rangers ownership group.
His idea was to create an internship for minorities that would expose them to Major League Baseball, which has seen its reach to Black communities decline steadily to historic lows.
Pride, a minority owner in the Rangers and a Negro Leagues baseball player before becoming a legendary, trailblazing country musician, wanted to see that change.
The Rangers took their first step toward that Thursday on what would have been Pride’s 87th birthday, four months after he died from complications of COVID-19.
The Charley Pride Fellowship Program — which is backed by local businessman Roland Parrish and has the unwavering support of Pride’s widow, Rozene, and country greats Garth Brooks, Larry Gatlin and Neal McCoy — will offer a 10-week paid internship for five fellows each year.
Interns will rotate through three front-office departments, including baseball operations, with the hope that they will become candidates for full-time positions with an MLB team upon graduation from college.
Above his stardom and business successes, Pride wanted to help people of all races and from all walks of life.
“This is something we can all say is wonderful for our community because we need diversity in all organizations,” Rozene Pride said during a 45-minute Zoom call announcing the initiative spearheaded by the Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation.
“Pride and I spoke often about going to meetings and we were the only minorities there. We would love to (see) more minorities work for the Rangers. I think this is a wonderful program.”
The Rangers formed and inclusion and community impact council within the organization last summer with the goal of making the organization more diverse. While many departments are represented, baseball operations has the most representatives.
Former pitcher Darren Oliver, a special assistant to the general manager, and third-base coach Tony Beasley are involved from baseball ops, along with multiple assistant general managers.
Jon Daniels, the president of baseball operations, spoke last spring after George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis, about the need for the Rangers to be more inclusive.
Oliver and Beasley are Black. However, the Rangers’ front office is composed mostly of white men, and their most recent significant addition was Chris Young as general manager.
“We have a number of females in leadership roles, but we know that we have a ways to go,” said Karin Morris, vice president of the Rangers Foundation. “It’s a conscious effort that the organization is taking in moving forward.”
The application process is open.
Applicants must be rising juniors or seniors in college and in a bachelor’s degree program. The internship will last 10 weeks, with 20-hour work weeks, and the departments will be tailored to the applicant’s preferences.
Applications are due April 23, and the program begins May 31.
Pride’s idea to help minorities make inroads into baseball has taken flight.
“He just loved people. That’s what he did,” Brooks said. “Hats off to the Rangers. Time seems to erase everything no matter how big. Charley Pride’s name is never going to be erased, but you guys are making sure it’s going to take a helluva long time if that were to ever happen.”
