The spirit of America’s pastime appeared in full force at a special MLB PLAY BALL event hosted at the United States Army Garrison Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, N.Y., last Friday.
For a third consecutive year, MLB, in partnership with the U.S. Armed Forces and the MVP (Military Veteran Professionals) ERG, capped its celebration of Military Appreciation Month with a treat for local military servicemembers and their families.
Hosted on the Sgt. Deon L. Taylor Sports Field in Fort Hamilton, the clinic served as an introduction to bat-and-ball sports for children and featured volunteers from MLB’s Central Office.
Bennett Shields, senior manager of baseball and softball development at MLB, led the team coordinating the event, and he spoke about the mission behind hosting the event and his own feelings on the partnership.
“It’s all about service,” Shields said. “The parents of the kids out here today, fundamentally, they have committed to a life of service in serving in our armed forces.
“So it’s really a no-brainer when we get opportunities to serve communities like this, when these folks have provided so much service to us. There’s a dedication to serving our service communities.”
The special introductory speaker for the event was Col. Misty Cantwell, the Garrison commander at Fort Hamilton, who completed five combat deployments and was most recently the Deputy Chief of Staff for the United States Military Academy in West Point, N.Y.
“It’s a great opportunity to get the families out, to showcase to the greater community what Fort Hamilton is,” Cantwell said. “To see the kids learn some lifelong skills and have the parents see some of the [former] players give back to the community is really meaningful.”
All of the young participants received PLAY BALL T-shirts and Franklin bat sets and even had the exciting chance to play and interact with former professional players.
Serving as coaches for the clinic were Joe Valentine, former Reds pitcher; Oreste Marrero, former first baseman for the Dodgers and Expos; and Michael Olt, who played third base for the Rangers, Cubs and White Sox.
“I think the PLAY BALL mission is all about having fun and getting these kids engaged,” Olt said. “I think at a young age, they should just be focused on having fun.”
Olt and his fellow former pros know that young kids benefit most from having fun playing ball, and that is what ultimately grows the game, even more so than finding success in organized competition.
“Sometimes it’s their first time putting a glove on, and that’s awesome, because you can see the enjoyment from them," Olt said.
As always, watching the on-field activities were the parents -- active-duty servicemembers living at Fort Hamilton. U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Rafael Rodriguez, the Garrison staff NCO at Fort Hamilton, brought three of his children.
“I’m a baseball fan, I grew up playing baseball,” Rodriguez said. “I try to instill the same values that I learned growing up playing baseball into my children and into everything that I do.”
Discipline and hard work are exactly the types of pillars that MLB values as both a sports league and a national institution.
“I think it’s one of those partnerships that is invaluable,” Rodriguez said. “To see Major League Baseball make such a commitment to our communities, it’s very impactful.”
This support for the military community and its members is one example of the many partnerships and communities that MLB devotes attention and resources to, all in the name of spreading the love of the game.