Mamie “Peanut” Johnson made a name for herself in the early 1950s when the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro Leagues signed her as their new right-handed pitcher. Since then, Johnson’s legacy and name have lived on in film, street names, and a Little League® program in Washington, D.C.
Mamie Johnson Little League (Washington, D.C.), a program rooted within the Little League Urban Initiative, chartered its first teams in 2015, providing boys and girls of the community within the South Washington area a place to play the game they love for the past decade. In recent years, the league has also seen success not only during the regular season, but throughout the tournament trail as well, sending both a baseball and softball team to the Little League East Region tournaments.
Heading into the 2025 season with a boundary population of nearly 150,000, the league is excited to continue to see growth within the community, with 27 teams registered between baseball and softball for an increase of 10 teams in the last five seasons.
To learn more about the program, Little League sat down with Mamie Johnson Little League’s President Keith Barnes, for a Local League Spotlight, a series of content created to help other leagues learn from each other’s success stories. A staple within the community, Barnes was also recognized in 2022 as part of the inaugural class of Community Heroes of the Year, today Presented by New York Life. Below, you will find advice from Barnes, including examples of how the league brings these ideas to life in their communities:
Recruiting and Retaining Coaches
It is important to give coaches the training and tools they need to have a successful season. You can’t just hand them an equipment bag and tell them to go lead a practice. When you ask for volunteers, especially at the Tee Ball level, a lot of their first responses will be “well I don’t know how to play baseball,” or “I don’t know enough about softball.” To help them feel more equipped, we host training courses at the start of the season at our fields to teach them how to run stations at practice and how to involve other volunteer parents if needed. Plus, we send coaches to clinics outside of Little League to further educate them. When you are starting a new league and recruiting coaches who will help grow your league, find those who understand that the early days are about having fun, developing the players, and creating a great experience for the players and their families.
- In addition to the resources and education provided locally by volunteers like Barnes, Little League International also offers a variety of free training courses online, as well as a 10-week Tee Ball Curriculum, great for first-time coaches stepping up to the plate at the youngest divisions of play.
Rally Around Your Community
We partner with a couple different community organizations including the Department of Recreation, the Washington Nationals Youth Baseball Academy, and D.C. public schools within our boundary to help with player and volunteer recruitment. Building relationships with different youth-specific organizations like a local YMCA, churches, and The Boy Scouts of America can really help build a program, especially in its early days.
- Mamie Johnson Little League gets involved throughout its community by attending events hosted by the Washington Nationals organization, churches, and schools to hand out flyers and recruit players.
Growing your Softball Program
We have been really focused on growing our softball program, especially after our Majors division team competed in the Mid-Atlantic Region Tournament in 2024. Growing softball helps your league as a whole grow. One way that we are trying to grow our program is through our partnership with Howard University. We reached out and had their players come to the fields to coach a practice and speak with the players. Finding people with the softball knowledge and skills to help the girls develop and find their love for the sport is important when trying to retain players. We have also taken our girls to college games so they can see the game at that next level and see that it is something they can maybe one day accomplish if they stick with the game. Then when you add on the focus of the youngest level of play, you will see even more growth. Last year, while Little League celebrated 50 years of girls in its program, we had our first all-girls Tee Ball team because we focused on their development and making sure they had fun and hopefully continue to play as they move up through divisions.
It’s All About Having Fun
Everyone wants to win, but the main goal should be to make the experience fun and enjoyable for the kids and their families. When you focus too much on the competitive side of the game, it can get a little crazy. But, if you focus on the fun and developing their skills, it can go a long way in helping your league grow and retain players because the kids want to be there.
Advice for Urban Initiative Leagues
Take advantage of the travel opportunities that come with being an Urban Initiative league, if you can. By participating in a Little League Urban Initiative Jamboree, you’re giving the players a chance to see leagues from other communities and states. The first year that our league did it, we went to the Bronx and were able to see teams from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Since then, every year, I get asked when we are going back because it’s the event that the kids look forward to finally being of age to participate in. This year, I had a player who was six years old when his brother went to the Jamboree and now, six years later, he is of age to go play. That was a really cool full-circle moment for me.
- Mamie Johnson Little League has hosted the East Region Softball Urban Initiative Jamboree for the last couple of years, giving teams from other states the opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C., to compete.
Advice for New Leagues
Be patient. It’s going to take some time to grow, especially in an area where other youth sports organizations are also present. If you find good, active parents, hold onto them because they can play an integral part in helping the league grow as volunteers. When I started Mamie Johnson Little League, I quickly learned that I could not do it all on my own. I needed to turn to others for help. At the start you might not have enough players to have an in-house schedule. Build relationships with neighboring leagues and turn to them for support in giving your players teams to play games against. A league needs coaches, and umpires, and someone who is dedicated to raising funds for equipment, uniforms, concessions, charter fees, and tournament fees. Getting these pieces into place will help you be a successful league and year by year you will continue to see growth.
To learn more about the Little League® program, and find a league in your community, visit PlayLittleLeague.org. To learn more about the Little League Urban Initiative and its support of leagues in underserved communities, visit LittleLeague.org/UrbanInitiative.