Correspondence Discussing Using Baseball to Combat Juvenile Delinquency
C.C. Johnson Spink Letter to Steve Hamilton Asking for New York Yankees Players to Work with Inner City Kids
C.C. Johnson Spink Letter Soliciting a Donation from Red Schoendienst
by Dan Komorowski
<u><b>Spink, Baseball, and Charitable Causes</b></u>
The Baseball Old Timers Association was a nationwide initiative whose purpose was promoting and hosting baseball leagues and games for boys aged eleven to seventeen over the summer months in participating cities. This invitation in particular had been sent from the Denver, Colorado chapter of the association in an attempt to expand and promote membership positions within their program. It is not known whether or not C.C. Johnson Spink was an active member of the Baseball Old Timers Association. If such was the case, his affiliation with the club would have been rooted near his residence in the city of St. Louis.
C.C. Johnson Spink remained an integral part of the Saint Louis community involving himself with many charitable organizations closely associated with sports. This was a letter from Johnson Spink to Cardinals manager, Albert Schoendienst requesting a donation for one hundred dollars to the Buddy Foundation; a local organization aimed at supplying destitute St. Louisan kids with sports equipment.
In his time as publisher at Sporting News, C.C. Johnson Spink also oversaw a number of inner-city youth programs that involved voluntary appearances from major league teams across the country. As part of Vice President Hubert Humphrey’s initiative of Summer youth programs; When applicable, Johnson would send out requests like this (image) to every baseball team in the Major Leagues, hoping to get as many volunteers from each baseball team to show out for the kids.