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Catto League Block Party - Philadelphia Baseball Review
After spending its first season introducing baseball to children who might otherwise never play the game, the Octavius Catto Youth Baseball League celebrated its inaugural year Saturday with an end-of-season block party at Athletic Recreation Center.

Families gathered to eat hot dogs, make balloon animals and run the bases as players, parents and organizers reflected on the league’s first season and the impact it created across Philadelphia neighborhoods.

The league, which aims to teach the sport to children in an accessible and beginner-friendly environment, is home to 12 teams from recreation centers throughout North and West Philadelphia, neighborhoods where organized baseball opportunities have steadily diminished over the years. Players in the league’s 6-9U division use foam balls and plastic bats and do not use gloves. At-bats consist of a set number of swings, innings are timed and scores are not kept. When players move up to the 10-12U division, the game is played traditionally.

Mike Barsotti, director of youth sports for Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, partnered with the Philadelphia Youth Sports Collaborative to help create a program that is “inclusive, accessible and entry-level.” Registration costs $40, with financial aid available, and proceeds are reinvested back into the recreation centers.

Barsotti said the league was designed to give children a chance to develop fundamental skills and confidence before entering more competitive baseball environments.

“If you go to Little League for the first time and you strike out 10 times in a row, you're not going to want to play again,” Barsotti said. “So how do we get those basic bat-to-ball skills, basic throwing skills and basic catching skills into the hands of kids at a younger age so that when they get to Little League, they’re ready to go?”

Josh Throckmorton, director of program development for PYSC, worked alongside the Phillies RBI Program to help launch the league. Focusing on neighborhoods in North, West and Southwest Philadelphia, the RBI Program assisted with registration software, uniforms and equipment while also providing baseball cards and other mementos to players.

“They're helping us tremendously administratively,” Throckmorton said.

The league is named after Octavius Catto, the 19th-century civil rights leader and founder of the Philadelphia Pythians, one of the nation’s earliest Black baseball clubs. The Pythians famously played the all-white Olympics in the first interracial baseball game at 25th and Jefferson Streets — the same location where Saturday’s block party was held.

While living in Philadelphia, Catto also helped lead efforts to desegregate Pennsylvania transit systems before he was assassinated on Election Day in 1871 shortly after the passage of the 15th Amendment.

Throckmorton called Catto “one of the greatest Philadelphians.”

“We felt like it was just sort of serendipitous that we had such a great Philadelphian who, even though there's a statue of him outside City Hall, often still goes overlooked,” Throckmorton said. “We wanted to make sure that we're uplifting his name through the league.”

Shannon Gunby, founder of the On Deck Circle, said one of the most rewarding parts of the season was watching children discover confidence through the game.

“Something that we heard from a lot of people and a lot of kids was, ‘Wow, I actually hit the ball,’ or ‘I didn’t know my son was a baseball player,’” Gunby said. “When you hear those types of things, it's amazing because the opportunity has been presented.”

Khadijah Sams attended the event to support her grandson, Paul, who plays for the Kingsessing team. Paul said his favorite part of the season was getting the chance to hit the ball.

For Sams, the league became about more than baseball.

“The kids getting to meet different children from different neighborhoods, and me meeting parents, just the atmosphere of it all,” Sams said. “I’m a grandmother raising grandkids, so it gets me outside. I’m a big sports fan, so it’s awesome.”

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