Most players on Motor City Ravens baseball team created by Detroit DJ were new to sport
When the Motor City Ravens youth baseball team plays, Angel Thompson’s eyes are glued to the action.
As part of a “baseball family” growing up on Detroit’s east side, Thompson, the pride of the former East Catholic High School (Class of 2004), was playing T-ball at age 3 and further learned the intricacies of the game by watching her dad (Daryl) and younger brother (Derek), who respectively coached and played baseball with a passion during her childhood days.
With that background, Thompson brings an expert eye whenever she peers through the fence outside a modest baseball diamond at Calcara Park, 3420 Charlevoix, where members of the 14-and-under Ravens team have been practicing in preparation for their inaugural spring season of Legends League Baseball — a Detroit-based spring-to-fall youth program.
On April 10, as afternoon turned to evening, Thompson took pride in noting the steady progress that has been made by members of the Ravens, whose roster consists of mostly newcomers to baseball. Thompson’s commentary and the look of approval she wore on her face as the boys ran sprints, fielded grounders, made accurate infield throws and shagged fly balls in the outfield, seemed to reveal that she had a complete understanding of all of the activities that were being performed before her — with the exception of one thing that periodically took place on different parts of the field.
“I’m still trying to figure out what Coach Mac says to the kids in the huddles that make them love him so much,” said Thompson, the mother of 11-year-old Cedric Robinson, the Ravens’ catcher, who figures to become well acquainted with his fellow 11-year-old teammate and promising pitcher Anthony Sledge. “I went as far as to ask Coach Mac one day: ‘Are you just saying, I love you, I love you, I love you — what is it?’ And he said: ‘I don’t know.’ But whatever it is, these boys really gravitate toward him. … He can keep them in line in school when the mothers can’t. That’s the connection he has, and this team is more of a family than anything.”
The gentleman who Thompson thinks of as family, Coach Mac, was born Vincent McMullen II. Listeners of WGPR-Hot 107.5 FM also may know him as "DJ Twist." However, the 40-year-old McMullen says his Ravens players know little to nothing about the music/entertainment space he has occupied for years, and that is fine with him because his coaching journey has produced another type of excitement that touches him deeply.
“Last year, I started off as a volunteer assistant coach for a 12-and-under baseball team. And today, these kids, we’re like a family — parents included,” McMullen said as he described how he went from helping out with a team in another league, to creating and entering the Ravens into the Legends League last fall at the urging of kids (backed by their parents) who craved to play more baseball under McMullen’s direction. “We played through the fall and now we’re back at it early in the springtime. It’s amazing how far we came, and these kids are Year 1, Year 2 learning the game. I know some coaches focus just on winning, but if these boys can continue to make an investment in the game of baseball, I will be proud because it teaches them so many more important things, like teamwork and confidence.”
More: A minister since age 16, Deon Mullen serves in new ways at Franklin Wright Settlements
Like Thompson, McMullen started playing T-ball when he was 3 and later distinguished himself as a baseball player at Benedictine High School (Class of 2000), whose sports teams also were known as the Ravens. McMullen’s father, Vincent, who the younger McMullen lovingly refers to as the “original Coach Mac,” is a former Detroit police officer who also worked with Detroit PAL before creating his own recreation organization. However, it was McMullen’s mother, Tanya, who first taught him the game. And on Wednesday, as 68-year-old Tanya McMullen instructed the Ravens’ outfielders, she made it clear that she liked what she was seeing beyond the game of baseball.
“When I taught baseball to my sons (Vincent and Brandon) all of the kids came out with the ability to catch, throw and understand the game. But today’s kids come out with nothing, basically,” explained Tanya McMullen, whose love for her family has prompted her to leave behind her Florida home for several months to regularly babysit her infant grandchild and help out in any other way she can, including with the newly formed Ravens baseball team. “I was not received well here last year because I was a woman trying to teach them baseball, and I told them they needed to learn the fundamentals first. But they appreciate it now and they’re also interacting well with each other. We have kids from the east side, west side, suburbs, and I want them to build lifetime friendships.”
Tanya McMullen also said that “respect” is a quality that every true ballplayer should possess. And respect for the game was on display during the Ravens’ practices on Monday and Wednesday, including after the April 10 practice when the players, after a very focused two-hour session, waited patiently in a line to individually share their thoughts about being a Raven. Each player stressed that the team is a “family,” and some echoed Tanya McMullen’s sentiments about the beauty of working together.
“I most enjoy how we talk to each other and how we work with each other to get better,” said Kasai Rasberry, a student at University Prep Middle School, who is still trying to figure out the position best suited for him during his first season of baseball.
Davion Bell, a student at Hanley International Academy in Hamtramck, already knows his way around a diamond, as baseball is his favorite sport. But, like Rasberry, he is impressed by the cohesion that the Ravens are already starting to develop.
“It’s a lot of fun just being on the field and doing things off the field as well,” Bell, a confident first baseman, said. “And when everybody is coordinated when we’re playing, it’s just more fun than any other sport.”
Looking on nearby with a pleased expression as the players took turns speaking on Monday was Kristina McMullen, Coach Mac’s wife. She confessed that there are no early baseball accomplishments on her resume, but the Ravens’ team manager is more than willing to help in any way possible to support her husband’s vision of a team, which also includes three students from University Preparatory Academy Middle School who are National Junior Honor Society members (Devin Dandridge, Lebrahn Johnson and Ethan McMullen).
More: A minister since age 16, Deon Mullen serves in new ways at Franklin Wright Settlements
“When we started this team, my husband said: ‘I want to grab a group of boys that need a mentor; that need a family; that need a place to feel comfortable, a place to feel safe. And I want to shape them and build with them,'" Kristina McMullen, the proud mom of Ethan (13), Jayden (7), Ashton (4) and Mackenzie (9 months), recalled. “And that’s how we’ve done it. We had a family team meeting, everyone came to our home, we cooked spaghetti, we made fried chicken, the kids ate, and the parents ate. Then we talked about the team, league fees, uniforms and jerseys. But we did it all in a home setting. The kids went outside and they played catch and it was all just beautiful. When we do things, we all move in unison, as a family.”
The person tasked with making sure that everything is in place when the Ravens family comes together for the team’s opening day on Sunday, April 30, at William Clay Ford Field (1200 W. Canfield) at 3 p.m. for games against the Detroit Kings and Ecorse Raiders, is Legends League Baseball Director Garrett Street. On Tuesday, Street joked that walking nearly 7 miles daily while carrying U.S. Postal Service mail and packages, as he has been doing, is actually a breather compared with his Legends League duties after hours, which include forming teams in multiple age divisions; fundraising to help sponsor individual players and teams; recruiting coaches and umpires, and maintaining local baseball fields. But later, the levity was all gone when he explained what the Ravens represent.
“We have been a grassroots organization since we started, and everyone in the community who has supported us and helped us to keep baseball affordable for teams and families has also given something meaningful to youth in our community, and the Ravens are proof,” said Street, who in a July 13, 2019, Detroit Free Press article described how he became involved locally in youth baseball going back to his days as a first-year volunteer coach for Detroit PAL in 2005. “It’s so much more than the trophies we give out. By providing spring, summer and fall seasons, our kids have an opportunity to be mentored longer. And that’s why we want coaches that are focused on player development first and foremost, even over winning, because Legends League is about preparing our youth for travel baseball, high school and beyond — including the game of life. Coach Mac is a prime example of someone who puts his young players first and cares about their well-being on and off the field.”
By the end of the Ravens’ practice on Wednesday, Thompson did not appear to be any closer to where she was on Monday in figuring out the magic contained in the words spoken by McMullen to players in his huddles. However, she earlier made it clear that she wants more boys to hear those words through the expansion of the Ravens, which she envisions as additional teams with even larger rosters, led by Coach Mac and other community members that share his vision. Community members like the Ravens’ volunteer assistant coach, Kenneth Sledge, who embodied perpetual motion during the Monday and Wednesday practices as he vigorously demonstrated a broad range of baseball skills. And those like Dorian Wesley, also a volunteer assistant, who spoke on Wednesday about his commitment to “changing the dynamic of how the city operates,” which extends to him doing “little things” like picking up sticks off the Ravens’ Calcara Park practice field on off days following storms.
“We need to expand this program because more lives will be touched and there are more boys we can keep off the streets,” said Thompson, who was unable to station herself directly in front of the baseball diamond fence throughout Wednesday’s practice only because there was a young person in her vehicle who required adult attention. “For a lot of the boys on the team, this is a tender age — a turning point. Ages 12, 13, 14, that’s around the time when a lot of boys get involved in drugs and gangs. But here, the vibe is definitely peaceful, and kids need something that will take their minds off what’s going on around them.
"This gives them something where they can get away, get out some frustrations, gain some discipline, and feel the love and brotherhood that this team offers.”
Scott Talley is a native Detroiter, a proud product of Detroit Public Schools and lifelong lover of Detroit culture in all of its diverse forms. In his second tour with the Free Press, which he grew up reading as a child, he is excited and humbled to cover the city’s neighborhoods and the many interesting people who define its various communities. Contact him at: stalley@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @STalleyfreep. Read more of Scott's stories at www.freep.com/mosaic/detroit-is/.
Beginning a New Spring Baseball Journey: The Motor City Ravens
Roster
1. Ethan McMullen, shortstop, pitcher and catcher
2. Ricky Fletcher, center field
3. Merio Fletcher, second base and left field
4. Anthony Sledge, pitcher, catcher, third base, shortstop
5. Marcelle Johnson, left field
6. Raphael Simpson, third base
7. Davion Bell, first base, pitcher
8. Devin Dandridge, right field
9. Lebrahn Johnson, third base, pitcher
10. Cedric Robinson, catcher
11. Elijah Foster, right field, second base
12. Kasai Rasberry left field, second base
13. Dewand Glenn Jr., third base, center field
Head Coach
Vincent McMullen II
Assistant Coaches
Kenneth Sledge
Dorian Wesley
Tanya McMullen
Team Manager
Kristina McMullen
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Motor City Ravens youth baseball team's creator is Detroit DJ
