Quite some time ago, long before video games could show the sweat on a player’s forehead, kids actually spent their summer months playing baseball. In the days of Joe Di Maggio and Ted Williams, kids played baseball all day, every day. It was a sport that was available to all children, rich or poor, and almost more common in urban areas than suburban.

Now, baseball fields in urban areas are so poorly maintained that no one would ever step foot on them. Basketball is the new sport of the urban youth, all it takes it a single ball and some nets, wich can be found in almost any park. Gone are the days when kids played baseball in the streets and front yards. Now its either Xbox or basketball.

But look at the countries where baseball is played with passion. The children Dominican Republic, Cuba, Haiti and other countries south of the U.S. grow up playing baseball with wound up socks and whatever they can use. Its no wonder the U.S. lost in the World Baseball Classic, baseball really is not our national pastime anymore.

That is why the Urban Youth Academy in Compton, California is so cool. It was established with the purpose of giving the youth in the inner-city a chance to play baseball.

“They’re going to know how to play, and they’ll have an opportunity,” says Darrell Miller, the academy’s director and former big-league player with the California Angels. “Once you know the game, you fall in love with it. If you’re comfortable, there’s a future in baseball. Kids need to know that. They just need the chance to play.”

It also might help to fix a very perplexing trend: the lack of African American players in Major League Baseball. Including all the players on the disabled list, African American players constitue only 9.5% of players on major league rosters. I really don’t think it is a much of a racial issue as it is an urban issue, but it is pretty alarming to see. Mabye places like the Urban Youth Academy can help to rekindle some of the history this country has with great baseball players coming out of our urban centers. And possibly too something can be done to help bring the passion back into the American major leagers… hopefully in time for the next WBC.

• Diamonds in the rough (Yahoo! Sports)