Andre Dawson Classic returns for 18th year

Although Spring Training is just now getting started and Major League Baseball’s Opening Day is still more than a month away, plenty of baseball is being played this weekend throughout the country, including at the Jackie Robinson Training Complex in Vero Beach, Fla.

It’s officially college baseball season, and as has been an annual tradition since 2008, MLB is hosting the Andre Dawson Classic, an event that features seven teams from HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities): Alabama State University, Alabama A&M University, Florida A&M University, Grambling State University, Jackson State University, Prairie View A&M University and Southern University (Baton Rouge, La.). The eighth team is new to the Dawson Classic: The University of Missouri.

• Andre Dawson Classic schedule & scores

The tournament is named after Hall of Famer Andre Dawson, who began his baseball journey more than 50 years ago at Florida A&M, where he walked on as a freshman and ended up earning a baseball scholarship in 1973.

Over the past 18 years, the Dawson Classic has featured many players for whom this visit to the Jackie Robinson Training Complex was not their first – a lot of them were there as kids, participating in the many development programs MLB offers throughout the year. JRTC is home to the Dream Series, Breakthrough Series, Hank Aaron Invitational, Nike RBI World Series and many more events offered to boys and girls who play baseball and softball at a high level.

The Dawson Classic is one of three MLB-sponsored college tournaments that take place every year, and the only one played at the JRTC. The Desert Invitational takes place in Arizona, while the HBCU Swingman Classic is played every year during All-Star Week at the host ballpark.

Though the University of Missouri is new to the Dawson Classic this year, its head coach, Kerrick Jackson, is no stranger to the JRTC. He has been there many times, including as the former coach of Southern University, a Dawson Classic mainstay. Jackson coached Southern from 2018-20, went on to be the president of the MLB Draft League and then took the head coaching job at Memphis in 2023.

Now in his second season at Missouri, Jackson said he was looking forward to exposing his players to the Dawson Classic, a tournament that has enjoyed much growth over the past nearly two decades.

“At Southern, we played in this tournament and it’s an experience I wanted our kids to have,” Jackson said during an in-game interview with MLB Network broadcasters Sedric Granger and Xavier Scruggs. “To come and stay here on the [JRTC] campus and be able to walk across the street, take ground balls, hit in the cage when they wanted to, just be in this atmosphere.

“When we played in it with Southern, I thought the tournament needed more than just HBCUs in it. It’s such a great tournament, based around some great guys and great ideas. I think it should be spread.”

Jackson is arguably the most experienced of all the coaches, in terms of having worn the most hats during his career in baseball. In addition to coaching at the college level and heading up the newly formed MLB Draft League in 2020, Jackson worked as a scout for the Washington Nationals from 2008-2010, and as an agent for the Boras Corporation.

In 2023, Jackson, the first Black head baseball coach in SEC history, was named “Trailblazer of the Year” by Baseball America.

He values tournaments like the Dawson Classic, which give players a jump-start to the season in a competitive environment. There’s the added element of national exposure, as well; several games are broadcast every year on MLB Network.

“Baseball is baseball, right?” Jackson said during his interview with Granger and Scruggs. “At the end of the day, especially with smaller rosters, transfer portals and all that kind of thing … the parity of baseball is on the rise.

“Being in this league before, knowing how well these teams are coached, it’s a good opportunity for our guys just to go out and play good, competitive baseball.”