NewsLoney Lounge is open for business
Dodgers infielder hosts 40 kids from RBI Los Angeles
By Ben Platt / MLB.com
07/01/09 6:48 PM ET
LOS ANGELES -- The Loney Lounge is open and ready to play.That's the way it was Wednesday afternoon at Dodger Stadium after the Dodgers' 1-0 victory over the Rockies, when James Loney played host to 40 kids from RBI Los Angeles in the Baseline Box Club along the first-base side of the field. Best Buy provided six flat-screen televisions along with three Xbox 360s, three Nintendo Wii gaming systems and 12 video games for the kids to play.
"Seeing the kids out there and smiling is definitely something I look forward to," said Loney, who is a graduate of the RBI program and last year launched Loney's Lounge with a similar video-game party. "We definitely enjoy hosting the kids from the RBI program, and it's become something I look forward to doing. It's also nice to relax after a game and just hang out with the kids, play Wii and talk about anything they want to talk about." The Dodgers' first baseman is hosting children from RBI Los Angeles eight times in 2009. He was the Dodgers' nominee for the 2008 Roberto Clemente Award, which recognizes the player who best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual's contribution to his team. "For James Loney to be this young and to always be involved in the community is great, and that's why I'm always on-board with anything he wants to do," said Dodgers left fielder Juan Pierre, who attended the first Loney Lounge event last year and was at Wednesday's event. "They bring the kids out, they get to play Wii and they see us out of a baseball aspect, but just in a 'let's have fun' aspect. I had a lot of fun last year, and I'm sure I'm going to have just as much fun today."In addition to Pierre, teammates Randy Wolf, Matt Kemp and another RBI graduate, James McDonald, showed up for Wednesday's event.
Also on hand was Academy Award-winning actor Cuba Gooding, Jr., who brought his kids.
"I started out as a breakdancer, and I was exposed to gang violence," said Gooding, Jr. "I was fortunate that someone pulled me out of that world and got me into a youth baseball league and took me off the streets. Groups like RBI are so important because the fundamentals you learn in sports -- fair play, respecting yourself and others around you -- help you in life, and to hear that James is a graduate of RBI is just proof of how well this program works." RBI Los Angeles fosters a love of baseball, gives local kids the opportunity to play in an organized league and is fully supported by Major League Baseball and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Last year, Loney was asked by MLB Productions to serve as host and narrator of a documentary about the 2008 RBI World Series that aired on ESPN2. "The whole idea of the lounge," Loney said, "it's a simple objective to get these deserving kids out here, get them good seats to see the game, come to the lounge and just have fun. Not a bad way to spend the day at a stadium."Ben Platt is a national correspondent for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
