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The trajectory of Rickie Weeks’ baseball career is the hallmark of what Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) were founded on, and what the HBCU All-Star Game attempted to provide – an opportunity for those overlooked. Not only did the event provide exposure, but it involved clinics and networking with Major League front-office employees. Weeks contributed as one of the coaches. “Rickie’s presence showed the kids that it’s possible to flourish in the game coming from an HBCU,” Wyche said. “A lot of them said Rickie’s the reason why they started playing.”

The challenges and possibilities for Weeks began by chance late in his senior year when a Cincinnati Reds cross-checker traveled to Florida to scout a prospect. But the scout was impressed enough by a different player – Weeks – to make a phone call to his friend, then-Southern baseball coach Roger Cador. “The scout said, ‘You better get on this guy, he’s real,’ ” said Cador, who was 913-597-1 over 33 years at Southern. That included 14 Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) titles, 13 SWAC Coach of the Year awards, 12 30-win seasons and 11 NCAA tournament appearances.

“I hit a shot off the pitcher’s head in that game and ended up with a triple,” Weeks said. “After the scout made that call, the rest was history.”

That history involved Weeks signing with Southern late that summer. A historic college career would begin for a player who somehow slipped through the cracks except for one scout. Maybe Weeks was overlooked because of his size (5-foot-10, 170 pounds at the time) or that he hit in the middle of a lineup with future Major League players such as Felipe Lopez, who was drafted in 1998, two years before Weeks graduated from high school.

“I really don’t know why I only received one offer,” Weeks said. “I was a good kid, never got into trouble and I made good grades. But I do know when I went back home after my first year of college, an area scout told me every scout in the area got fired because no one turned my name in.” - andscape.com

He had a thinner face when he first came up and it widened by the time he was in Seattle. I tried to split the difference.