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Before his son earned a junior college baseball scholarship, R. Lamar Brooks paid dearly for Brandon's baseball education.

A typical annual baseball budget might read like the following from 2005:

A thousand dollars for a wooden bat tournament in Atlanta ... $1,650 for a tournament in Puerto Rico ... a thousand for summer team fees and $600 for the fall ... a thousand for coaching fees, $600 for gas, $300 for a bat.

Total annual cost, for those still unafraid to peek: $8,455.

Many parents of children in select sports pay as much or more, but few can afford it in the neighborhoods that Brooks targets with an initiative he calls the Dallas Baseball Alliance.

The goal: Raise the level of interest and competence in baseball in areas where parents can't afford what Brooks paid for his child's coaching.

Or as Brooks puts it, "Why can't we pull together the people who can teach the game and have it where it's not so pricey?"

Brooks already has recruited the help of part-time scouts and corporations and put on two free skills camps.

More than 300 area athletes ranging in age from 12 to 18 took part, most representing 21 Dallas ISD schools.

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With help from corporations and part-time scouts, the Dallas Baseball Alliance has conducted two free skills camps. More than 300 area kids from ages 12 to 18 have taken part, most representing 21 DISD schools.

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The emphasis on DISD is by design. Brooks attended Carter, as did his younger brother, Chet, who went on to play football at Texas A&M and in the NFL. Brooks specifically wants to raise the level of Dallas baseball.

Sobering fact: The last DISD team to win a state title in baseball was Samuell, in 1965.

"It's been a very long time," says Jeff Johnson, DISD's athletic director.

The district hasn't yet committed officially to Brooks' goal of summer and fall leagues composed of DISD schools. But Johnson has given Brooks an audience. The rest is up to coaches, kids and parents.

The number of basketball and football athletes recruited out of Dallas certifies a talent base. But the baseball skill set in most areas of the city is woefully short.

"We're trying to come to grips with the kid that can run a 4.4 and can jump, but in other parts of the game he has no clue," says Nick Moses, a part-time Angels scout who coordinates Brooks' camps and Saturday hitting clinics.

"We're trying to go back to the foundation, especially with the younger kids. Time may be running out for the older ones."

Professional baseball takes note. More than 60 years after Jackie Robinson's breakthrough, only 8.2 percent of Major League Baseball players and a little more than 6 percent of Division I baseball players are black.

More year-round emphasis on baseball in urban areas certainly will help, but only if the coaching is competent and affordable.

Brooks offers both. Every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Kimball High School, the DBA will conduct a hitting clinic.

The sessions start at $10, and that's the moral. Learning to play baseball well doesn't have to mean you can't eat, too.

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