Youth & Amateur Athletics Origin Story

Seven months after Tom Yawkey is born, his father (Thomas Austin) dies suddenly. Tom, his mother (Augusta) and sister (Emma) move from Detroit to New York City to live with Augusta’s brother, William Yawkey. William is the co-owner of the Detroit Tigers baseball team, and Tom grows up around the game and begins a lifelong love of baseball. At the age of 15, following his mother’s death, Tom is adopted by William and his name is changed to Thomas Austin Yawkey.

Tom Yawkey graduates from Yale University and plays second base for Yale University’s intramural baseball team, the “Sheff Men” of the University’s Sheffield Scientific School. According to Yale’s 1925 class notes, Tom “was on the Freshman Baseball Squad, Dr. Bull’s Squad in Sophomore year and the Class Baseball and Basketball teams for three years and has his numerals.” 

Tom Yawkey purchases the Boston Red Sox. The baseball team would remain under Yawkey ownership until 2002, and during his many years as owner, Tom renovates and restores Fenway Park. He fields highly competitive teams, opens the field to local amateur teams, and supports local recreation — particularly baseball — in the Greater Boston area.

Tom Yawkey makes his first gift to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York to support its mission of preserving the history of baseball and honor excellence in the sport. Over the years, Tom supports the Hall of Fame’s commitment to baseball in many ways. He has a special fondness for Doubleday Field in Cooperstown and annually sends the Fenway Park grounds crew to care for the field and donates bleachers from Fenway Park to be used at the field.

Tom Yawkey begins an annual tradition of hosting a Baseball Clinic for thousands of local youth to learn baseball technical skills, life lessons from the sport, and enjoy a game in Fenway Park.  The tradition of hosting youth at Fenway Park for these experiences and games was carried on by the Yawkeys during their decades-long ownership of the team.

Tom Yawkey loans out Fenway Park and assumes all associated expenses for the Mayor’s Field Day which attracts more than 25,000 spectators. Tom also supports youth athletics across the region in many ways including sharing access to Fenway Park for football games and other local sporting events.

The Yawkey Foundation begins supporting America’s oldest amateur baseball league, the Boston Park League. The Foundation became an official sponsor of the league in 1986 and has continued to support the league to the present day.

After many years of support from the Boston Red Sox under the Yawkeys’ ownership, Jean Yawkey begins to personally support the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston and provides the first of many grants for their programs to enrich and provide opportunities for underserved children.

The Boston Junior Park League is renamed the Yawkey Baseball League of Greater Boston. The Yawkey League, which fields 10 competitive amateur teams, is a wood bat league that has roots back to the 1950s. Games are open to the public and players comprise top amateur talent from the Boston area.

The Yawkey Foundation, in collaboration with the Yawkey-owned Boston Red Sox, establishes the Rookie League and the RBI Baseball Program in Boston. “Reviving Baseball and Softball in Inner Cities”, RBI’s formal name, serves thousands of boys and girls in Boston each year. The league provides equipment, uniforms, field access, and umpires at no cost.

The Yawkey Foundation begins providing program grants to Bay State Games, in order to support their commitment to sustaining the vibrancy of youth amateur athletics across Massachusetts, and in particular, baseball and softball. In 2020, the partnership reached an important milestone of total funding from the Yawkey Foundation to Bay State Games surpassing $1 million. 

The Yawkey Foundation begins to provide program support to the Cape Cod Baseball League, the premier collegiate summer baseball league in the nation. This commitment includes later strategic investment grants to support field rehabilitation projects across Cape Cod in conjunction with local communities.

The Yawkey-owned Boston Red Sox host the 1999 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the 70^th playing of the midsummer classic between the all-stars of the American League and the National League. Red Sox legend and longtime friend of Tom and Jean Yawkey, Ted Williams, makes a special appearance at the Game. A portion of the proceeds from the 1999 All-Star Game Home Run Derby at Fenway are directed to the City of Boston for the rehabilitation and construction of Jim Rice Field in Roxbury.

The Yawkey Foundation makes a significant commitment to supporting access to baseball and softball programs through refurbishing or rebuilding fields while also making  facilities available to the local community for games, youth clinics, and summer camp programs. This commitment includes strategic investment grants for the renovation of Cape Cod Baseball League Fields and transformational capital grants for the renovation of Clemente Field at Emmanuel College, Dorchester’s shared baseball field at Boston College High School/UMass Boston, as well as Harrington Athletics Village and the Pete Frates Center at Boston College.

In honor of Tom and Jean Yawkey’s dedication to youth sport programming, the Yawkey Foundation provides a $3 million transformational capital grant to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston for the renovation and expansion of the Roxbury Clubhouse.

The Yawkey Foundation provides a $1.6 million transformational capital grant to the Ron Burton Training Village to complete construction of a 60,000 square foot building that will be used as a dormitory, gym and dining facility for campers.

To create an inclusive space for athletes with intellectual disabilities, coaches, and volunteers to train and compete, the Yawkey Foundation provides a $2.5 million transformational capital grant for the construction of the Special Olympics Massachusetts Training Center, a 25,000 square foot state-of-the-art office and training center centrally located in Marlborough.

The Yawkey Foundation awards the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston with a $500,000 strategic investment grant to support the renovation of its South Boston Clubhouse. 

To provide greater access to safe, enriching outdoor activities for its members and the surrounding neighborhood, the Yawkey Foundation funds a small capital grant for field lights for the baseball and recreational field at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston’s Yawkey Clubhouse in Roxbury.