Blacks in Technology Co-Hosts Baseball Hackday San Diego

Baseball Hackday is a one-day, multi-city hackathon for tech and sports enthusiasts. Founded in Boston in 2012 by founder Daigo Fujiwara, this growing phenomenon has spread nationally and internationally to major cities like Chicago, Montreal, Toronto, and “America’s Finest City”: San Diego.

Blacks in Tech San Diego Group Organizer, Elizabeth Cotton, jumped on the opportunity to bring this program to San Diego. To make this a successful event, Cotton’s strategy included reaching from within the Blacks in Tech network to identify mentors and key participants. One of the BIT members that responded happened to be Kojo Kumah, Vice Chair of the International Game Developers Association and Software Developer for Sony Playstation game, MLB The Show. Cotton also reached out to other tech-focused community organizations such as Girls in Tech San Diego and the National Society of Black Engineers – San Diego. Cotton mentioned, “By us collaborating we were able to extend our reach within the San Diego Tech Community and make this a more inclusive event.” From there they were able to connect and partner with Tech Coast Angels, recruiters from Sony, and Proven Recruiting. 

As guest arrived in the morning, participants were encouraged to network and form teams before coding would begin. Six teams were formed and went to work quickly to produce software applications, web tools, and visualizations related to baseball. Throughout the day mentors from various companies dropped in to provide advice and feedback on how to improve their projects. At noon, teams took a break to enjoy lunch provided by Proven Recruiting and San Diego based, black-owned restaurant, Street Car Merchants. Participants quickly devoured their soul food lunch while tuning in to Sony Game Dev recruiter, Daujenae Harps, who shared career and internship opportunities. 

After lunch was completed, teams rushed to complete their projects before presenting them to the judges. The next few hours entailed strategizing and outlining the applicable code, and in the remaining time, all the teams labored relentlessly to create their software applications, wireframes, or prototypes. 

All teams presented amazing projects, but San Diego State University’s student-led team, “Who’s on First”, really brought it home with a baseball focused dating app called “Home Run”. San Diego’s panel judges selected them as the 1st place winners.  

Judges, which also included Ashok Kamal, Executive Director of Tech Coast Angels, determined that the app was scalable and a great way to fill seats in the stadium. Judges also included Luisa Giuffrida, Co-Director of Women Who Code San Diego and Online Game Developer for Sony Playstation; Jeff McArthur, Lead AI Developer for the Sony MLB The Show; and Rae Lietzau, CEO & Founder of DoWhop, a San Diego Locally-led Startup. 

Cotton also commented, “This is a great opportunity to potentially develop an incubator centered around the Padres, similar to the LA Dodger and Oakland A’s. As sports tech is a quickly growing industry, hubs for sports innovation should be connected to the teams…This being the first Baseball Hackday in So Cal, next year we definitely want to include Orange County and Los Angeles as we have 3 MLB franchises in So Cal.”

Winners were able to win an MLB.TV subscription, Sony Playstation, and SD Padres gear, as well as the opportunity to pitch their app to Tech Coast Angels, the largest angel investor group in the US. 

For more information on Baseball Hackday or to start a chapter in your city, please visit www.baseballhackday.com. For more information on Baseball Hackday San Diego, please email baseballhackdaysd@gmail.com.