1994

Home Run Baseball Camp is founded by John McCarthy in Washington DC.

Camp is for boys and girls ages 4-12 who want to improve their baseball skills in an effort-based environment. Camp motto is “Talent is What You Have, Effort is What You Give.” Camp has several hundred players the first summer. Home Run Baseball establishes a full scholarship program for families on the economic margins. Over 15,000 youngsters would eventually attend camp on full scholarship through the years. Few camps in the nation can say they have never turned down a scholarship request. In addition, HRBC welcomes children of law enforcement, firefighters and active military on full scholarship.

HRBC begins helping with the upkeep of Friendship Recreation Center, including paying for the addition of two new diamonds, and hires Statler Lawn and Garden to mow and trim the field every week from April to November.

1996

HRBC adds a winter camp, which gains popularity quickly.

HRBC creates a Coach-in-training program for camp alumni ages 13 and 14 to offer young coaches job training skills and on-the-job mentoring. All coaches up and down the line are required to shine their shoes every day for work.

1999

Coach Mac is asked by the United States Peace Corps to train their in-country volunteers in the Dominican Republic.

2000

Coach Mac is asked by The Grey Sisters of the Immaculate Conception to work with them in the Dominican Republic to design and implement a reading and baseball program for kids in their public school system in Consuelo.

HRBC teams with retired MLB player Jesus “Pepe” Frias to create Beisbol y Libros. The program is critically acclaimed and has over 500 youngsters. The Goal is to have kids pursue their dream of playing professional baseball while also staying in school and hitting the books. Over 15 players go on to sign contracts with major league clubs. Coach Mac serves as volunteer Director. HRBC provides financial support and equipment and sends staff to Consuelo for year-long volunteer coaching and teaching jobs. Over 15 volunteers from HRBC would go on to live and serve in Consuelo.

Many HRBC campers asks to come see the program. Coach Mac creates a Family Trip and asks families to make a donation to the Grey Sisters of the Immaculate Conception for their work in the community. Over 800 people would come visit Consuelo and raise over $100,000 for the Grey Sisters.

2001-2009

HRBC continues to grow and now serves over 1,500 players a year.

Many young people get their first paying job and Coach Mac hires almost exclusively from within the Coach-in-training ranks. Many full scholarship players also begin to join the staff with paid jobs.

Camp alum Emmanuel Burriss reached the Major Leagues in 2008 with the San Francisco Giants. Emmanuel grew up in Washington’s Shaw neighborhood.

2010

Coach Mac is asked by the community on Capitol Hill in Washington and Brooklyn NY to open new camps to serve the communities.

Both programs fill up quickly and add winter camps as well. Both camps also include a full scholarship program.

HRBC begins hiring retired police officers to be on site all summer to help with safety and staff training.

HRBC partners with Mayor Fenty’s office and The George Washington University to create “Building Bridges Through Baseball,” which invites 20 youngsters living in the Barry Farm public housing community in Washington to attend camp all summer and get academic tutoring after camp on the GWU campus. HRBC provides all baseball costs and scholarships.

2012

HRBC partners with Mayor Fenty’s office again to offer our summer camp in the Greenleaf Gardens public housing community in Washington.

80 kids attend camp that summer.

2013

HRBC is asked by Savoy Elementary School principal Patrick Pope to create a baseball program for students.

Savoy is located in the Anacostia neighborhood in Washington. The program runs five years and is featured on Al Jazeera America.

2015

HRBC works with DC’s Parks and Recreation to create a poetry and basketball camp in Washington’s Barry Farm and Fort Stanton neighborhoods.

Program is named “Three Pointers and Prose” and is free to any youngster who wants to attend.

HRBC is asked to welcome youngsters from Washington’s family homeless shelter all summer. Program runs all summer. The Los Angeles Dodgers provide uniforms for each youngster.

2016

HRBC partners with the NYPD in Brooklyn to welcome youngsters from the Brownsville community to camp all summer.

HRBC continues to thrive and has welcomed thousands and thousands of players. Camp safety record — since the beginning of program only seven players being taken to the emergency room. All were dismissed the same day.

HRBC invites Wilson High School’s varsity baseball team to the Dominican Republic to spend a week playing ball and observing the Grey Sisters’ programs, including a health clinic, senior home and many others. Wilson comes back every year and raises over $100,000 for the Grey Sisters in the Dominican.

2018

JUGS Baseball CEO Butch Paulson sees a feature in the Wall Street Journal on HRBC and contacts Coach Mac and offers to sponsor HRBC with equipment in perpetuity.

2020

HRBC establishes the Breuer Family Scholarship Program in honor of Lanny and Nancy Breuer and their boys Sam and Ben — both camp alums.

This will help sustain our scholarship program in perpetuity.

The Grey Sisters of the Immaculate Conception ask Coach Mac to create and implement a visiting medical doctor program to treat the community at their health clinic. The visiting doctor program is part of the Breuer Family Scholarship Program.

2021

HRBC continues to thrive in Washington, Brooklyn and the Dominican Republic and has seen well over 50,000 boys and girls attend the program.

Over 2,000 coaches have been employed as well. HRBC has been featured on NBC’s Today Show, NPR, ABC’s Nightline, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Univision, Al Jazeera America, Time, Newsweek and MSNBC, among others.

Coach Mac continues as day-to-day director.