Hall of Fame Awardee and Ex-MLB Athlete Winfield Gives Back | IXGAMES

Without a doubt, Hall of Famer Dave Winfield deserves his distinction. Many sports analysts believe he could actually excel in any type of sport he chooses. To this date, Winfield remains to be the only sports player drafted by teams in the NBA, NFL, and MLB. Winfield up close and personal To take a closer look at Dave Winfield, it is important to probe deeper into his personal character, beyond his portrait as an athlete. As a humanitarian, Winfield claims to have been influenced heavily by the great Rev. Martin Luther King. Winfield was one of the award presenters at the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation Awards Dinner at the Century Plaza Hotel just recently. Prior to the event, Winfield stated how Martin Luther King played a huge role as an inspiration for him to take up humanitarian work, as confessed to MLB.com. According to him, Martin Luther King was one of the most courageous people he knew, a person who fought for social and political justice within the country. David Winfield is currently the vice president of the Padres. Towering at 6 feet, 6 inches, he first burst into the sports scene in 1973 in San Diego and ended a fruitful career in Cleveland after 22 years. During the entire span of his career, David Winfield has never played in the Minor Leagues. Even while playing for the Padres, David Winfield was able to start his very own foundation. His foundation involved taking poor kids to the one-time San Diego Stadium, allowing them to watch the game from the bleachers along the right side of the field, known as the “Winfield’s Pavilion.” It was during the later ’70s when Winfield was a prominent right fielder that he took underprivileged children to his pavilion. Humanitarian efforts on a global scale It was in 2001 that Winfield was first inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and 6 years later, he journeyed to Ghana along with the rest of the MLB contingents so as to provide baseball gear and equipment to poor children in the country. This was also done to help orient the children into sports, especially baseball. It was during the same trip that he was able to meet President Nelson Mandela, who had spent 27 years in incarceration after having fought against the apartheid and racial discrimination in his very own country. Winfield was also able to travel with John and Jimmy Carter, bringing medicines to help the residents of Africa. According to him, baseball has given him immense opportunities and now he strives to give back as much as he can. Winfield has also taken note how the minorities are enjoying better opportunities nowadays, the strongest indicator of which is the election of President Obama as the first black president of the U.S. Thirty years after Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, David Winfield believes that such opportunities are well-deserved by the black minorities in the country.