First Pitch: New City Little League Players, Families Gather For Opening Day

Hundreds turned out on a bright, sunny Saturday morning for New City Little League’s opening day ceremonies at Zukor Park in New City.

Though a little chilly at the start, the atmosphere of warmth, humor and anticipation rose in unison with the sun to quickly warm the park.

That atmosphere and the hundreds of smiling faces showed exactly what it means to be a member of NCLL.  It means being a part of fun-loving and caring family whose paramount interest is in the welfare of its players.  Their main goal every season can best be summed up by the words of   He always said “just let the kids play.”

Attending along with the 900 players, team managers, coaches, board members and all their families were local dignitaries, representatives from the Rockland Boulders and Howard “HoJo” Johnson, former third baseman and hitting coach for the New York Mets. As a surprise guest, the Staten Island Yankees Mascot Scooter the Holy Cow appeared midway through the ceremonies to the enjoyment of all the kids.  Though already a very special day in New City, the presence of these dignitaries and special guests truly made the day one to remember.

The dignitaries in attendance representing Rockland County were Legislators Ed Day, R-New City, and Frank Sparaco.  From the town of Clarkstown were members of the Town Board, Supervisor Alex Grommack, Councilwoman Shirley Lasker, Councilman Frank Borelli, Councilwoman Stephanie Hausner and Councilman George Hoehmann, Town Clerk Justin Sweet, Parks and Recreation Senior Recreation Supervisor Elaine Apfelbaum, President of the School Board Phillip DeGaetano, Highway Superintendent Wayne Ballard, Health, Safety and Welfare committee member Bill Hughes, and Judge Rolf Thorsen.

“First of all, they’ve got a beautiful opening day,” said Lasker.  “It’s a great day at the biggest little league in Clarkstown and the Town Board absolutely supports the little league.  I know my son, who’s in his 30s now, started out for West Nyack Little League.  It’s really a great activity for the kids and for the entire community and I love when spring starts and we can go to all the little league games.”

Day summed up the celebration nicely, saying “I’ve coached for about 17 years in total and it’s great to see this.  It’s a bit of history right by home.”

Representing the Rockland Boulders, the Can-Am League team set to begin play in June at the new baseball stadium in Pomona, were announcer Seth Cantor and account executive Bryan Viggiano.

“Opening day’s terrific, number one,” said Cantor,  “just having the opportunity to reach out to the local community.  This is where it all starts, this is the game at its most innocent and enjoyable form.  Our main goal as an organization is to reach out to the community and this is a great step forward in doing that.”

Special guest “HoJo” was a real highlight of the day for young and old baseball fans alike.  Following the celebration, he stayed after to autograph baseballs and take pictures with fans.

“The main thing is that it’s little league and this is where most people start their baseball lives and sometimes they get to the big leagues and most times they don’t, but they all were experienced in little league and this is where it’s most fun," said Johnson.  He added, “It’s fun to see kids and sign things for them, say hi to the parents and stuff.  I think it’s important that ex-players and stuff, guys that have played the game for a long time, come out and at least be visible so kids can see what we really look like.”

After all the teams had gathered on the two fields adjacent to the central field where everything was to take place, the ceremonies kicked off in earnest as long-time announcer and executive board member Michael Forman took the microphone.  Forman is in what he believes to be his last year in NCLL.

“I do a lot for Clarkstown,” said Forman.  “This is my love, this is my passion, I love doing stuff for little league.  I should have been out a year or two ago, because my last son had left, but it draws you back in, because you have a day like this.  What a phenomenal day, did you see the smiles on the kids?  They were just excited and we kept it short, which was nice, but this is what makes baseball, baseball.  And now baseball can begin.  A beautiful, bright sunny day.  Opening day little league, it doesn’t get any better than this.  So will it be my last year announcing, probably, although I said that last year.”

Forman started things off by calling the teams in to assemble on the central field.  As Forman called out each team name with his own creative twists to the introduction, like “let’s open our eyes wide for the Owls,” they came marching in, one by one, with banners held high to the cheers of the crowd.

Once all the teams had assembled around the circumference of the infield from first base to third, with all the dignitaries and special guests gathered down the third baseline, everyone quieted down for the playing of the national anthem and the recitation of the pledge of allegiance. 

From there, NCLL President Lon Hofstein took over from Forman to begin introductions for the attending dignitaries, guests, the NCLL board and representatives from a particularly outstanding team last year,

Hofstein  made sure to express his appreciation for the hard work of the NCLL board of directors and for their and his family’s support of his demanding role as president.

NCLL is always conscious of, and thankful for, the freedoms they enjoy that made all this possible and Hofstein asked everyone to acknowledge this with a moment of silence for the troops that have given their lives to protect those freedoms.

A real highlight of the ceremony was when Howard Johnson addressed the crowd with a speech filled with humor, class and advice for the young players and their parents.

“The thing about baseball,” said Johnson, “is when you watch a major league game, all those players on the field all started in little league baseball and those are the memories you’ll always carry with you.  In the back of their minds, they’re still playing the same game you’re playing.”  He concluded, “The most important thing is to have fun.”

As Johnson concluded to cheers from the crowd, Hofstein came back up to begin the awards presentation part of the ceremony.  First up was the President's Recognition Award, which was a complete surprise to its recipient, Rick Sharan, a dedicated member of the league for the past 12 years.

“It was a shock,” said Sharan later after receiving the award.  “Much appreciated, but it was definitely a shock.”

“I was looking at members of the board and I said, ‘you know, we should do something for certain people and we should be able to come up with something,’” said Hofstein.  “We talked about having the President's Recognition, something to say we appreciate all you’ve done and I can’t say enough about Rick, so it was an opportunity.”

Next was the presentation of the Bill Berletic Jr. Volunteer of the Year Award, in honor of the former NCLL player and later coach who died at a young age in a car accident.  The award was presented to Andy Kaye, Vice President for the International/Rookies softball division and manager for the Dodgers in the Majors division.

“It means a lot,” said Kaye of receiving the award.  “I wasn’t around when Bill Berletic Jr. passed away, but I know the family was very involved with the league and the league has always had a great relationship with them.  It's been a great experience for me.  I’ve had a lot of fun doing it.  I’ve gotten to meet a lot of people and the best part is working with the kids.  I get to see the kids now that I worked with that are now playing high school ball and its been a great experience.  I still enjoy doing it.”

This was followed with the presentation of a plaque to the Amendola family.  The plaque reads “In Memory of John Amendola ‘The Corporal,’ For his outstanding dedication to the players of New City Little League.  He was always heard to say: ‘I just want the kids to play.’  The plaque will be put up at Zuchor Park for all to see and remember the caring and dedicated member of the NCLL.

“It was hard,” said Amendola’s widow, Patty, of the ceremony.  “Last year, my husband got a Bill Berletic award and that was right after he was diagnosed with cancer.  It was hard being here because we spent every baseball season here, the league meant everything to him.  I’m very proud and I’m very happy that they did this for John and when they put in the plaque, we’re  going to come back and look at it often and we’re going to visit the field, because this is the place that he loved.”

Following those presentations came the announcements of the raffle winners, which was a fun-filled portion of the day as players cheered and groaned with each number being read.  Cantor was brought out midway through to use his talents as an announcer to read off the rest of the tickets, a portion of the ceremony which he concluded with a speech of his own from him and the Rockland Boulders organization to the NCLL.

The ceremony concluded with Johnson and Gromack throwing the ceremonial first pitch and those words which everyone was waiting to hear coming from the mouths of two of NCLL’s youngest players, “play ball!”

With that, the baseball season had officially begun.  Though the ceremony was over, many people stuck around to meet HoJo, watch or play in the games and just socialize with their longtime friends in the league.

Some of those who stuck around were three players for the AA Rangers, Marco Feliciano, Zachary Kahn and Matt Gavin, who were all very excited for the start of the season.  One and all, they were most looking forward to “winning and having fun.”

Jordan Sharan, second baseman/outfielder and Jason Strum, pitcher, were two other players who stuck around after the celebration.  They play for the Red Sox in the Majors division and were very excited as well for the start of the season and their upcoming game later that day.  Sharan was most excited “to play, to win and to do good.”  Strum had the same goals in mind and very high expectations for his team, saying “I think we have a good chance of winning.”

All in all, the fun-filled day was a huge success and the NCLL is ready for a great 2011 season.