The Gio Urshela all stars got to visit Yankee Stadium for the first time as a team. The kids come from the Bronx and extend all the way to Connecticut.
Once at the stadium I get to take the kids around the ball park and I explain how everything works. They got to visit monument park and learn about all the greats there. They learn about the history of the retired uniform numbers then they get to visit the Yankees museum. While there I love talking to them about the story of Thurman Munson’s locker. I tell them the story of how I use to sit in Thurmans locker and we would tell each other stories. I like telling them about Munson’s leadership skills. Afterwards we go across the street to the old Yankee Stadium so that they can feel the spirits of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig and so many of the greats that performed so magnificently on the house that Ruth built. I show them the exact spot where Lou Gehrig stood to give his speech. I take them to the three locations where Reggie Jackson’s three homers landed. The pitchers get to throw off the same mound that Mariano Rivera , the greatest reliever in Yankee history threw his cutter. The catchers get to crouch at the same home plate where Munson Yogi Berra Elston Howard and Posada brilliantly were the best at their position. The outfielders got to stand in center field and hear about Dimaggio, Mantle , Murcer and Bernie Williams. The infielders took ground balls at shortstop and we spoke about Frank Crossetti , Gene Michael,Phil Rizzuto, Bucky Dent and a young shortstop that would grow to become the greatest Yanks shortstop ever, Derek Jeter. Then we sat in the first base dugout and I spoke to them about the man that I considered the Greatest Yanks manager… Billy Martin. I got to tell them how Billy treated me like a son and I loved him so much for it. Of course I spoke about the wonderful friendship I had with the great Yanks owner George Steinbrenner.
Before we went back across the street to the New Yankee Stadium I told them about Gio Urshela and the kind of person that he is. I told them about how he likes to visit schools and hospitals to talk to kids and encourage them. I told them about how during the Pandemic when he went back to his home in Columbia he contracted the corona virus. After Gio recovered the first thing he did was to have his friend Alfred Zaccagnino ship thousands of bottles of H2One hand sanitizers to his country and schools in the Bronx. With all of his philanthropic ways the Thurman Munson foundation awarded Gio Urshela with the very prestigious Thurman Munson Humanitarian Award.
For years this baseball league was known as Hanks Yanks. Just before the passing of Hank Steinbrenner over a year ago it was decided that the leagues name be changed. This was something that was important to Hank. He wanted someone that would be there for the kids , especially if it was an active player. I promised Hank before he died that I would find the right guy. Not to blow my own horn but I think I have done a good job in naming the league after Gio Urshela, one of the nicest baseball players ever to wear a Yankee uniform. I have to thank Leo Caputo for keeping the league going all these years. Without Leo many kids would not of been playing baseball and god knows what kind of trouble some may of gotten into.
