Scott Yelle and his son Jackson bonded over baseball.
In 2007, dad and son flew to California to watch the Red Sox take on the Oakland Athletics at the Oakland Coliseum.
“We had gone to a couple of different stadiums and then we realized one day while driving to a baseball game that we had been to five or six stadiums.” said Scott Yelle, who lives in Eastham. “So, I said maybe we should try to get to all 30 over our lifetime, and he said yeah, that’s a great idea.”
The pair embarked on a grand tour of Major League Baseball parks.
Their odyssey brought them to 12 stadiums. Then the tour stopped.
Jackson Yelle, 21, a junior at Elon University in North Carolina, was killed by a hit-and-run driver while crossing the street in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on April 30, 2023. Police later charged a 45-year-old local man in connection with Jackson Yelle's death. He was in Myrtle Beach with a club baseball team from Elon.
Scott Yelle continues the ballpark journey alone, but not without support. And his tour provides an outlet to pay it forward.
"We didn't finish our quest. I wanted to finish what we started. The tour is helping to heal the big hole in my heart from his death. The pain and grief will never go away. It just will lessen some," Scott Yelle said.
Scott Yelle and his family started the Jackson Yelle Family Foundation. The vision is to “put good young people into the world #justlikejackson,” and the mission is “to encourage moral character and positive growth in kind young people.”
He has been to 20 stadiums as of April 9, attending eight games without his son.
Stadium Experience
When you go to 20 different stadiums, you are sure to see a lot.
“Every stadium experience is different,” Scott Yelle said.
He saw the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers on opening night against the Chicago Cubs. He threw out the honorary first pitch in Miami, home to the Marlins.
His visit to Tampa Bay was more of a personal experience.
“I met one of Jackson’s high school teammates from his basketball team because he goes to the University of Tampa,” Scott Yelle said.
Nike RBI Program
The Foundation accepts donations, which go to the Nike RBI (Nike Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities), a program that supports the development of young men and women through baseball and softball.
"Being able to see the young men and women we've been able to impact in a short time is priceless," Scott Yelle said.
The Jackson Yelle Family Foundation will donate $18,000 in 18 MLB cities to benefit the RBI program.
In Miami for the MLB Tour, Scott Yelle met some of the Nike RBI Program kids and saw their faces when they met some of the Marlins players.
“You know they were going to school the next day and showing all their friends photos,” Scott Yelle said.
As part of the donation ceremony at each stadium, Scott Yelle will wear a special t-shirt with an MLB and Jackson Yelle Family Foundation logo. The shirt also includes the number on the back representing the number that stadium represents on the tour.
The MLB has also arranged for him to be on the field at many of the stadiums for batting practice.
He also has friends and family meeting him at the stadiums, and other people who are doing the MLB stadium tour.
“Baseball just has a way of bringing people together,” Scott Yelle said.
His last 10 stadiums are: Seattle (May 13); Arizona (May 14); Los Angeles (May 15 and 16); Milwaukee (June 2); Chicago (June 4 and June 6); St. Louis (June 7); Kansas City (June 8); and Detroit (June 9).
Scott Yelle compared his expedition to the movie ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles.’
“I will have done a little of all that by the time the stadium tour is done,” he said.
To make a donation, visit https://jacksonyelle.com/ or Venmo (Scott-Yelle-4), and you can make a check payable to “Jackson Yelle Family Foundation” and send it to Jackson Yelle Family Foundation PO Box 86, North Eastham, MA 02651.
Jackson Yelle’s Legacy
Jackson Yelle graduated from Nauset High School in 2020.
Some Cape Cod community donations were made to the Nauset Booster Club in Jackson’s name. The Jackson Yelle Family Foundation matched those donations, which resulted in a new batting cage for the Nauset’s baseball team.
The Foundation also has plans to improve the Elon club baseball field, with scholarships for baseball players at both Nauset and Elon.
In the summer 2022, Jackson Yelle had an internship with TrackMan Baseball, a digital scouting company, as he was a business analytics major with a minor in statistics.
“He got to go to all the (Cape Cod Baseball League) games and work behind home plate and sit with all the scouts. He loved it,” Scott Yelle said.
The one-year anniversary of Jackson’s death is approaching, but Scott wants to keep it simple.
“My wife and I are going to go visit my daughter and let the day just happen. We don’t have anything specifically planned. We just wanted to be together,” Scott Yelle said.
Scott Yelle said that his tour gives life meaning.
"It helps my family move forward with Jackson, but never will we move on from Jackson," Scott Yelle said.
Contact Courtney Jacobs at cjacobs@capecodonline.com. Follow him on X/Twitter: @CJ_Journalist.
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