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Eli Barkan Charity Challenge Gamesby John DeBenedictis Photos by Allan Hill Holiday 2008 |
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Ray Lammie of the Long Island Men’s Senior Baseball League (a five time cancer survivor and author of two inspirational books as well as a nominee for Geezer Jocks’ “Comeback Male Athlete of the Year” in November of 2006) challenged John DeBenedictis and the Tri-State 48+ Men’s Senior Baseball League to a charity game to benefit someone courageously fighting a life threatening disease that was creating a financial hardship. Ray suggested that each team guarantee $750.
Tri-State 48+ gladly accepted the challenge and after seeing the initial response raised Ray’s challenge to $1000 from each team. Ray “saw” that raise and upped the ante to $1500 per team. By the time the games were played, the two leagues raised $5,335. The Tri-State 50+ Men’s Senior Baseball League was founded by John DeBenedictis in 1998 as the first 50+ league in the nation. Ray Lammie commuted from Long Island to play on John’s team for the first two years. The league was later lowered to a minimum age of 48+. The check was awarded to Tim Heiser. Tim is a 30 year old son of a Tri-State 48+ league player Harry Heiser. Tim is a husband and father of two young beautiful children. He has been diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). Tim’s response to the news has been a multi-pronged attack on the disease including a web site he has developed to share the different treatments he is undergoing and to inspire others. It does just that. To see the epitome of courageous, go to Tim’s website at http://timheiser.wordpress.com/.
This event will be annual effort to raise money for individuals fighting a life threatening disease in a courageous manner despite financial hardship. This year’s recipient was chosen by Tri-State. Next year, the recipient will be chosen by Long Island. The pre-game ceremonies included a tribute to Eli Barkan (the tourney’s namesake) who helped start the Tri-State league in 1998. Eli battled prostate and bladder cancer for many years and played through it all with body fluid bags strapped to his legs. He was tutoring children right up to the night he succumbed. Tony Cabrera of Long Island was also honored as a cancer survivor. Long Island played these games in his honor. He pitched 40 innings out of a total of 99 played in Long Island’s successful effort to eclipse the Guiness Book record for the longest baseball game ever played this past summer. He also brought in 35 checks that helped raise over $42,000 for the Prostate Cancer Federation. This day, he was on base four of five times in the doubleheader with two hits (including the longest of the day – a triple), a walk, and an error. Tony Cabrera and Ray Lammie were honored by the New York Mets this year on Fathers Day. Ray Voorhees of Long Island delivered the invocation and the lovely Toth sisters (Samantha and Amanda) sang a beautiful rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. John DeBenedictis and Ray Lammie shared the honor of throwing out the first pitches. Harry Heiser and Tony Cabrera served as the catchers. Oh yes, the games…………………
The Long Island contingent travelled to Camden, NJ to play in the beautiful Campbell’s Field; home of the minor league Camden RiverSharks on Sunday, October 5, 2008. They were managed by John Alutto. Pat Fynes managed the Tri-State 48+ All Star team. Long Island exploded for a five run top of the first in game one and never looked back in the doubleheader winning both games by 15-3 and 8-2 scores. Game One Long Island 5 1 2 2 0 3 2 15 18 2 Tri-State 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 4 3 McGrath, Lopez, Castellano, and Voorhees Explode in Top of First Long Island's Joey Maurello was hit by the first pitch of the game and Tommy McGrath boomed a double to left to score the first run of the day. Juan Lopez, Bobby Castellano, and Ray Voorhees then stroked back-to-back-to-back singles and Tony Cabrera reached on an error and before the fans reached the cheap seats, LI had a 5-0 bulge on the scoreboard. Bowden, Lee Respond in Home First Long Island was still in the charity mode in the home first as they made their only two errors of the first game on the first two batters. Bill Cameron reached when his bunt attempt was dropped and promptly stole second. Mike Maconi hit a shot to third that was thrown wildly to first. Cameron advance to third. Bill Bowden then plated the first Tri-State run on a roller to second and Rick Lee drove a deep sac fly to center. It was 5-2 in favor of Long Island after one inning. Long Island Bats Stay Hot Long Island added five more runs over the next three innings by scoring in each of them. Mike Caputo’s single plated Brian Milano in the second. Singles by Joey Maurello, Tony Ferraro, Juan Lopez, and Bobby Castellano plated two more in the third. Singles by Bill Burke, and Brian Milano around a walk to Tony Cabrera and a ground out by John Moreno upped the score to 10-2 after five innings. Zetterberg Shuts Down Tri-State Meanwhile, the Tri-Staters went quietly in the 2nd through the fifth. The only hit given up by LI starter Bob Zetterberg over that time was by Bill Bowden who also stole second. Bob Whittick drew a walk and Bill Shields laid down a sacrifice but no one else hit the ball out of the infield except for Mike Tenaglia’s liner to center. Ferraro, Voorhees, and Burke Get Three More for Long Island In the top of the sixth, Tommy McGrath led off with a walk. Tony Ferraro singled and with two outs, Ray Voorhees and Bill Burke stroked back to back doubles to run the lead to 13-2. Moreno, Milano, Caputo, and Alutto Put Icing on Cake Sounds like a law firm, huh? Roberto Ramos drew a walk to start the 7th and then John Moreno, Brian Milano, Mike Caputo, and John Alutto stroked singles to score two more runs. Toth and Moses Save Face The Tri-Staters managed to score the last run of the first game when Jim Toth led off the home 7th with a single followed by Phil Moses with another single. Bill Cameron plated the run with a sacrifice fly. Statistically Speaking Bob Zetterberg went the distance for Long Island earning the win. Bob Whittick took the loss. Long Island had eight batters with two hits each (Ferraro, Lopez, Castellano, Voorhees, Burke, Moreno, Milano, and Caputo). McGrath, Voorhees, and Burke had doubles. The lone hits for Tri-State were earned by Bill Bowden, Art Ellis, Jim Toth, and Phil Moses.
Game Two Tri-State 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 5 5 Long Island 3 0 2 3 0 0 x 8 8 3 Long Island Starts Fast Again Mike Maconi was hit by a pitch to start the top of the first for Tri-State and he stole second but he was left stranded. In the home first, Joey Maurello led off with a single and stole second. After two were out, Juan Lopez reached on an error as did Bobby Castellano (two runs scored). Then Ray Voorhees drove in a third run with a single. It was 3-0 after one. Gabel, Fynes, and Bowden Get Tri-State Back in Game A lead off single in the top of the second by Ray Borysewicz was wasted but Tri-State closed the gap to 3-2 in the top of the third. Bob Whittick reached on an error and Joe Gabel stroked a single. After Mike Maconi reached on another error, Pat Fynes took one for the team in the foot to pick up an RBI. Bill Bowden followed with a long fly to center to close the gap to 3-2. Long Island Responds; Maurello Doubles Tony Cabrera’s lead off single in the second was erased on a fielder’s choice and caught stealing. However, after Tri-State narrowed the gap to 3-2 in the top of the third, Brian Milano and Bob Zetterberg singled. One run scored on John Alutto’s fielder’s choice and Joey Maurello boomed a double to put Long Island back top by three again. Cabrera Triples Tri-State went quietly for the rest of the game. Ray Borysewicz picked up his second single in the 4th, John DeBenedictis singled to start the 6th and Bernie Pekala singled in the 7th. Meanwhile, after three errors in the home 4th, Tony Cabrera stroked the “drive of the game” with a long triple to right to push the final score to 8-2. Billy Ferraro’s single in the 6th was left stranded. Statistically Speaking Bob Seroski went the distance for Long Island to earn the second game victory. Ray Borysewicz took the loss for Tri-State. Joey Maurello and Tony Cabrera had two hit games for Long Island. Maurello had a double and Cabrera a triple. Voorhees, Milano, and Billy Ferraro had the other hits. After being held to four hits in game one, Tri-State only managed five hits in game two. Ray Borysewicz had two of them. John DeBenedictis, Bernie Pekala, and Joe Gabel had the others. # |
