Gabriel Balcacer is the President Of the Bronx‘s largest little league, The International Baseball League.
For over twenty years he has been getting kids off the streets and getting them into baseball uniforms and playing America’s pastime.
I always know that the little league season is about to start when Gabriel starts calling me.
It’s usually about the fact that he needs a baseball legend to talk to the kids about life and the pursuit of happiness and this great game called baseball.
This year Gabriel said that he really needed someone very special because it had been a very difficult time in the streets of the Bronx and the Legend needed to deliver a message of hope and dreams. A message that lets the kids know that they must not ever give up on the American dream. There have been a large number of shootings in the area so we needed for the kids to hear that they needed to be kids again and enjoy the great game called baseball.
Because the majority of the youth in the area are Latin I felt that the perfect guy to show and be an amazing example is Omar Minaya.
Omar as the world knows is a classic example of the American dream. He was baseball’s first Hispanic general manager. A guy that was born in the Dominican Republic, went to school in New York and got drafted by the Oakland A’s, and played professionally both in America and Italy.
He has proven that besides being a good athlete, if you are a good person then someone might take a liking to you and give you an opportunity to start on a career path. That’s exactly what happened to Omar. After he finished playing someone that got to know Omar the person decided that he would make a great baseball coach and scout and the rest is history.
Saturday morning Omar came out to talk to several hundred kids and threw out the first pitch to start the Little League season.
The message he delivered was from the heart and soul. He also acknowledged all the parents and coaches that were there and complimented them because of how difficult it can be in the Bronx as opposed to other parts of the country.
I have known Omar most of my life and remember asking him to come to my mother’s school where she was a school aid and speak to the kids at that time. I basically force-fed him into doing it because he has always had a message to give.
To have him in the Yankee family is a wonderful feeling because he more than most knows my true heart so to be able to bounce things off him about baseball and more importantly about the children of the area is heaven-sent.
I know that after hearing Omar speak to the people of the area in their native language and delivering an honest message they were very grateful.
Many people thanked Omar and he said that the thanks needed to go to team president Randy Levine, G. M. Brian Cashman and the Steinbrenner family. They are the ones that have given him this opportunity and understand what is needed to help the community.
You can hear some of Omar’s comments on my Instagram account…. @Raynegronyanks
