On Thursday, January 23, 2025, World Series Champion CC Sabathia announced the development of Vallejo, a forthcoming sports film starring Vallejo, California native LaRussell. Inspired by the life of CC Sabathia, the film will reportedly tell the story of “the 1989 North Vallejo Little League All-Stars, navigating the challenges of growing up in a crumbling city.”
“In Vallejo, sports was a place of innocence for us; a pass to stay out past the street lights and stay out of the street life,” Sabathia told Variety. “Before I became a World Series champion, I was just another kid from Vallejo trying to survive. Vallejo tells the story of me and my friends finding ourselves, making sense of the world around us and trying to avoid the wrong path.”
Not only will innovative musician and entrepreneur LaRussell star in the film, but it will be directed by Coodie and Chike. The filmmaking duo is best known for its documentaries, including ESPN’s Benji and Netflix’s jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy. Moving forward, the duo says “Vallejo is marks an important step for [them] as [they] transition into scripted storytelling.”
“Vallejo is about showing life as it really is — raw, unfiltered, and honest,” Coodie and Chike told Variety. “This project marks an important step for us as we transition into scripted storytelling. We’re always drawn to themes of empathy because it’s what connects us all. Growing up in neighborhoods like Vallejo, Chicago, or New Orleans, you see the world through the eyes of kids just trying to navigate their reality — rough around the edges but full of heart and hope.”
Working alongside Sabathia, LaRussell, Coodie and Chike, Travon Free and fellow Vallejo, California native Jacory Gums will write the script. Gums and Free are a newly formed duo, but they are both veterans of the industry. Free has won an EMMY Award for his contributions to The Daily Show and an Academy Award for his work on Two Distant Strangers. Meanwhile, Gums has appeared several long-running series, including NCIS, ER and Days of Our Lives.
“Being from Compton, I know what it’s like to live in a city with a rich history that punches way above its weight class, and that’s what Vallejo is to the Bay Area,” Free said. “There’s no shortage of musical and athletic talent that emerges against all odds, and I’m excited to help bring the story of the enduring spirit of the ‘itty bitty city by the bay’ to the big screen.”
