Baseball fever in the city is at an all-time high thanks to the Brewers’ historic World Series run.
Tawyana Duncan, president of Beckum Stapleton Little League, hopes the momentum will help sustain the sport in Milwaukee’s central city.
“It’s going to drive the youth to pay more attention to baseball,” she said. “It can also inspire people to continue to give, continue to support the sport.”
Players from the neighborhood
Beckum Stapleton is based at 911 W. Brown St. on the city’s North Side. Duncan said the league’s players are all from the neighborhood, which she said is one of the most impoverished in the city.
To overcome those obstacles, the league, which fields teams for boys and girls ages 4-16, charges just $125 to join baseball and $75 for softball.
Players whose families can’t afford those fees are not turned away, Duncan said.
“We just talk to them and ask what they can afford,” she said. “We’ve bought shoes, we’ve paid out of pocket, we do what we can.”
The league receives donations from a local fire department, the Milwaukee Brewers and others.
The Brewers, who purchase uniforms for the league each year, also helped the team raise funds to install batting cages and refurbish the fields at Carver Park, where the league plays softball and 13+ baseball, and James W. Beckum Park, where 4 to 12 year old players play baseball.
Still, Duncan acknowledges that running a league on a tight budget is not ideal. Competing with teams that have more resources and access to training and coaches is an ongoing challenge, not just for her league, but most leagues in the central city.
“There’s always been a resource gap between our league and others,” she said.
Regardless, she said, the benefits of playing the sport are immense. Playing baseball, Duncan said, helps teach kids valuable life skills including patience, perseverance and teamwork.
“Baseball is the only sport where you can be successful 30% of the time and still be excellent,” she said.
Playing ball with their friends
Among the hundreds of kids who participate in Beckum Stapleton are Duncan’s three nephews, Cameron, C.J. and Caden.
What 11-year-old Cameron Duncan enjoys most about playing in the league is spending time with teammates.
“You learn how to be a leader and interact with other kids your age,” he said.
That didn’t happen right away, Cameron said. He credits his aunt with helping him learn how.
“I still get very nervous, but she has always been there through my toughest times,” he said.
Caden Duncan, 9, and C.J. Duncan, 13, both joined the league when they were 4 years old. They also spoke of the joy of meeting new people and learning new skills.
“I like meeting new people and having the opportunity to get better,” said C.J., who also plays baseball at Golda Meir School.
Caden, whose favorite Brewer is Christian Yelich, said it’s the relationships he creates in the league he enjoys most.
“I like playing in the league because I make friends and we all level up together,” he said.
Legacy of its founder
Jim Brey, assistant director of the Beckum Stapleton Little League, said he can’t help but think how happy the league’s founder, the late James W. Beckum, would be for the Brewers and the city right now.
“He loved baseball and the Brewers and was known on a first-name basis with players like Henry Aaron,” Brey said.
Brey said that over the years Brewers players have often come to say hi to the kids in the league. Meeting with them, he said, brought the players back to their childhood.
When the league was founded in 1964, baseball was the No. 1 sport in the city, he said. Basketball and football have both taken over as the lead sports, but he says they now have kids in the league who use the batting cages year-round.
Brey hopes the excitement of the Brewers will help bring baseball back even stronger.
“This is wonderful for the city and wonderful for our league,” he said.
Future of the league
It was Beckum who first involved Tawyana Duncan in the league, having her climb rickety steps to change numbers on the scoreboard.
“He hated to see kids stand around not doing something productive,” she said. “So he gave me something to do and I’m still here.”
Duncan said Beckum, who died in 2024, played in the Negro Leagues.
“He had to face adversity just to play,” she said.
Duncan became president of the league after Beckum’s death.
She said her focus right now is continuing to build relationships in the community and increase support for the league.
“We’re working on connecting more with the business community and others to help the league grow,” she said.
Eventually, she said, her hope is that the league’s next crop of players is inspired by the current Brewers team.
“It’s going to inspire more youth to pay attention to the sport, more kids to love baseball,” Duncan said.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
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