Boxes and bags of gently used, vibrantly colored baseball cleats arrive in Aruba, from the Oriole Advocates, to distribute to underprivileged youth and young adults through the Cardboard to Leather program.

A shipping container packed full of gently used baseball equipment, collected by the Oriole Advocates, was sent to Aruba. The shipping container has one door open showing various sized cardboard boxes packed tightly from floor to ceiling.

Cardboard to
Leather

Through our Cardboard to Leather® program, we collect gently used baseball equipment for communities where there is a love for the game but lack of equipment to play it. First established in 1992, the name came from seeing children use cardboard in place of leather gloves to play ball. Today, thanks to our partners in Camden Yards, local Minor League stadiums, schools, little leagues, recreation departments, and individual donors, we’re able to collect, vet, and send over a hundred tons of equipment to youth players abroad annually.

Two young, hispanic teenage boys in the Dominican Republic smile as they proudly display their new-to-them, gently used baseball equipment, including hats, helmuts, gloves, and bat bag, collected and delivered by Oriole Advocates. They are standing in a parking area with other children also finding equipment for themselves.

Highlights

We’ve gone from shipping 24 boxes of equipment to approximately

500+ boxes
of equipment
per year.

To date, approximately

17,000+ children
ages 5–17 have benefitted from the equipment donations.

Our partner organizations have increased our equipment donation capacity by
more than

400%
since we started.

We’ve been fortunate to send equipment to at least

11 countries
to spark and further a love of baseball in youth players.

Our Partners

We’re thrilled to have partnerships with major and minor league teams, recreational leagues, Little League, regional training facilities, and more. With their support, we’re able to run equipment donation drives, inventory and pack equipment, and fulfill our commitment to providing materials that drive our shared love of baseball.

Support
Cardboard to Leather®

There are numerous ways to support Cardboard to Leather®—as a partner, a corporate sponsor, through a community service project, or as an individual donor.

A group of smiling youth and young adults, benefitting from the international Oriole Advocates Cardboard to Leather program, pose on concrete bleachers of a baseball field.

Corporate Sponsorship

Corporate sponsors are instrumental in allowing us to grow our impact by making generous financial contributions, large donations of in-kind products, and connecting us to groups in need of assistance.

A Dominican Republic boy shows his newly acquired baseball glove by raising his gloved hand up as if he were ready to catch a ball. The glove, along with other gently used baseball equiment, was donated by the Oriole Advocates Cardboard to Leather program.

Partnership

Community and regional partners provide support by providing in-kind donations and hosting equipment drives, while also helping us inventory, pack, and ship boxes of equipment to players in need.

Oriole Advocates Cardboard to Leather collections reached the European country of Hungary, where a group of children benefitting from the program gather to pose in a field with some donated baseball equipment. They are smiling and wearing Orioles-branded tee shirts and hats.

Community Service Project

Kids can get involved too! As part of their school service learning, bar/bat mitzvahs, birthdays, Eagle Scout projects, Girl Scout projects, or more, they can participate in collecting equipment and raising funds on our behalf.

For more information
about the Cardboard to Leather® program or how to get involved, contact us.

Four Latin American young adult males pose proudly on a green field in their baseball uniforms with their gently used, new-to-them baseball equipment, including baseball bats, collected and delivered internationally by the Oriole Advocates.

Cardboard to Leather