Saturday, April 28th marked the opening of the 15th season of the Red Hook Youth Baseball League. The beautiful spring morning began with a ceremony of short speeches and traditional first pitches by honored dignitaries and supporters of the league, including: Kings County District Attorney Honorable Charles J. Hynes, Council Member Sara M. Gonzalez, Felix Palacios the Community Liaison for Speaker Christine Quinn, 76th Precinct Police Captain Jeffrey Schiff, John McGettrick President of the Red Hook Civic Association, and Honorable Judge Alex M. Calabrese of the Red Hook Community Justice Center. The ceremony concluded with a beautiful rendition of the National Anthem sung by Pat Sones a Red Hook resident and longtime friend of the League. Immediately following the ceremony, exhibition games commenced in which Hynes' Heroes defeated the Defenders, and Southern Trucking defeated Gibbs' Brooklyn Youth Association Royals. The League receives generous support from Council Member Gonzalez, and individuals teams are sponsored by the Kings County District Attorney's Office, community members Lou Sones and Brett Taylor, Chris and Liz Hanson of the Southern Trucking Company, and Mr. Romles Gibbs of the Justice Center, respectively.
Thanks to generous donations, there is no fee to play in the League. The League was founded by a partnership between the local Justice Center, AmeriCorps volunteers and community members and continues to be entirely volunteer-run today. True to its roots, the League is about more than balls and strikes and the coaches and volunteers work hard to instill in the young boys and girls the highest standards of sportsmanship, leadership and respect.
Honorary first pitchers echoed the League's mission to not only provide a venue for structured, competitive baseball, but to also encourage success in school. Ian Young, League Co-Commissioner and President of the SAYO Grays League which has sent 32 ballplayers to college on scholarships the past 2 years, spoke of his pride in seeing his former players go off to college as a result of their sports involvement, saying "Going to college is much more important to me than having one of my players play professional baseball."
The season had been in jeopardy when, in March, 4 of the ballfields were closed by the Health Department due to soil contamination from being the former site of a lead-smelting plant. (The fields are still in the process of being cleaned and renovated.) However, thanks to the hard work of Eddie Vargas, among others, at the New York City Parks Department and numerous public officials and civic groups who advocated on behalf of the League, we were given permits to other Red Hook ballfields and able to have a season.
Thanks to generous donations, there is no fee to play in the League. The League was founded by a partnership between the local Justice Center, AmeriCorps volunteers and community members and continues to be entirely volunteer-run today. True to its roots, the League is about more than balls and strikes and the coaches and volunteers work hard to instill in the young boys and girls the highest standards of sportsmanship, leadership and respect.
Honorary first pitchers echoed the League's mission to not only provide a venue for structured, competitive baseball, but to also encourage success in school. Ian Young, League Co-Commissioner and President of the SAYO Grays League which has sent 32 ballplayers to college on scholarships the past 2 years, spoke of his pride in seeing his former players go off to college as a result of their sports involvement, saying "Going to college is much more important to me than having one of my players play professional baseball."
The season had been in jeopardy when, in March, 4 of the ballfields were closed by the Health Department due to soil contamination from being the former site of a lead-smelting plant. (The fields are still in the process of being cleaned and renovated.) However, thanks to the hard work of Eddie Vargas, among others, at the New York City Parks Department and numerous public officials and civic groups who advocated on behalf of the League, we were given permits to other Red Hook ballfields and able to have a season.
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