One HBCU baseball legend will be coaching up some future legends this summer in one of baseball’s most anticipated events.
Southern University great Rickie Weeks, along with longtime Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins, were named managers for the fourth annual Swingman HBCU Classic on Wednesday. The Swingman Classic was founded by baseball Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. and is designed to give HBCU baseball players an opportunity to be scouted at the highest level.
The Swingman Classic is set to take place on Friday, July 10, at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, where this year’s Major League Baseball All-Star game will be held.
“I’m privileged. [Southern University] was one of those places where you grew up,” said Weeks on MLB
Network. “Coming back and getting a chance to manage a team [with players from] the team that gave me a
chance to play college baseball, what more can you ask for than that?”
Weeks led the NCAA in hitting in 2002 and 2003, earning the Golden Spikes and Dick Howser Awards as college baseball’s best player. He was drafted as the second overall pick in 2003 by the Milwaukee Brewers and went on to play 15 seasons with the Brewers, Seattle Mariners, Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Rays.
