Reds icon Davis helps launch RBI World Series

CINCINNATI — Eric Davis’ 1989 season with the Reds was the textbook definition of a complete season. He hit .281, stole 21 bases, hit 34 homers and drove in 101 runs. He went to the All-Star Game and he won a Gold Glove and a Sliver Slugger Award, finishing in the top 10 for National League MVP.

As significant as those numbers were on the field, they made a bigger influence off of it. Prior to the season, Davis had been approached by John Young, a Major League scout, about a program to help inner city youth get involved in the game. For every home run, stolen base and RBI recorded, Davis agreed to donate money to Young’s organization. That organization became what is now Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI), an MLB-led initiative to bring baseball back in underserved communities.

“John came up with this idea in 1989 to create, to really eliminate the void in baseball,” Davis said. “Once you get to high school, there is no other leagues in order for kids to improve or get better in. So RBI was really created to bridge that gap for that kid that was not good enough to make varsity or the junior varsity team.”

Nearly 30 years later, the culmination of Young’s work and the generosity of guys like Davis and Darryl Strawberry, who also helped fund the organization in 1989, showed up in the ballroom of the Kingsgate Marriott Conference Center, as …

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