dream weekend
Among the many Martin Luther King Jr. celebration activities in Mississippi is the Mississippi Dream Weekend, founded by major league veteran Curtis Granderson in partnership with the MLBPA-MLB Youth Development Foundation’s Players Going Home program. Children from across the state will participate in three camps that will center on baseball while also honoring the legacy of King, “who paved the way for people of all backgrounds to break barriers and turn their dreams into realities.” Former big leaguer Fred Lewis, who grew up in Wiggins and played at Stone High, will host a camp in Perkinston on Saturday and current Toronto outfielder Anthony Alford, a former Petal High star, will host one in Columbia on Sunday. The camp at Jackson State on Monday will be hosted by Granderson, who talked about the camps on MLB Network’s Hot Stove today. What, you may be wondering, is Granderson’s Mississippi connection? Well, a bit of research finds that his father, Curtis Sr., was born in Tchula and attended Coahoma Junior College and Mississippi Valley State.