A Ball Game (and More) for Piermont Residents

It wasn't just another road trip for the Piermont PAL last week—a journey to a minor-league game packed three buses.

"It's awesome," exclaimed Roger Duran of Piermont, among a group of nearly 150 children and parents who attended the excursion Thursday night to Richmond County Bank Ballpark at St. George on Staten Island.

(For the record, the host New York Yankees of the New York-Penn League lost a 7-6 thriller to the high-flying Brooklyn Cyclones, the Mets' affiliate in the short-season minor league. The Mets, managed by former Mets star Wally Backman, roared out to a 4-0 lead, scored late and held off the pinstripers).

But that is mere grist for the mill for a night that was very reasonable ($20 for entry, a bright-red Staten Island Yankees cap and all the food you could eat)—not to mention all the sideshow-like activities at a minor-league game and a truly spectacular post-game fireworks display.

And even after all that, a hardy handful of PAL youngsters joined a group of other kids on the field for a sprint around the bases before boarding the buses and heading back home.

"We've been thinking about this for about two years," said PAL president Joey Gottlieb, accompanied  by his wife, Carrie, and sons Mark and Alex. "Maybe next year we'll add another trip to the Hudson Valley Renegades. We'll probably do this one again. This is great: a great view of lower Manhattan [and] New York Harbor—what else could you ask for?"

The weather, of course, was nearly perfect for baseball.

"I ordered this weather—it was a special order," joked PAL treasurer Joan Will earlier in the evening as she convened with vice president Mike Holder, chief of police Michael O'Shea and Tom Brown, safety director for Haverstraw Transit (which provided the buses and took care of the tolls).

The trip to the park was like going back in time for many of the adults, most of whom were traveling by bus for the first time in more than a decade. And the adults seemed to enjoy the trip as much as the kids—at least until the trip seemed to be never-ending cries of "Are we there yet?"

(One wag offered this concern: "Is this bus going to run out of gas? We're been riding for hours.")

But not to worry, countered Piermont mail carrier Jim Walsh, talking directly to his son Jimmy but loud enough for everyone to hear. "All I know is there's a ballgame at the end of the rainbow."

Oziah Deloatch of Piermont, who was taken to the game by his uncle, Anthony Deloatch, and is a close friend of Duron's, had a succinct comment as he climbed up the stairs into the park.

"It's not as big as Yankee Stadium, but it's good," said the younger Deloatch, who said he has been to the old and new Yankee Stadium about 10-11 times.

Tappan's team of Dominick Moroney, a student at South Orangetown Middle School, and his dad Jerry also enjoyed the evening, as did Clark Alexandre, a manager at Tallman State Park, and Piermont deputy fire chief Bill Cavanaugh, who brought along his daughter Aishling and son Patrick.

"They just got back from visiting family in Ireland," Cavanaugh said. "They've also been to a Newark Bears game. They like this better, it's smaller." For affirmation, both Aishling and Patrick gave the thumbs-up sign.

The youngest fan in a near-capacity crowd might have been Albert Wu of Blauvelt. He turns two next month, noted his mom Kezhen, whose other son Peter, 7, played for Pat Gorman's PAL team in the spring. Young Albert's eyes were fixated on the sparkling fireworks show, although the thunderous sound was muffled somewhat by his mother, whose hands acted as ear muffs during a performance that lit up the sky.

Another interested parent was West Nyack's Glenn Meyers, a PAL coach who played pro ball and reached the high-Class A level as an outfielder for the Twins and Angels. Meyers was joined by his son Paxton, a player on his PAL team. This was his second trip to the Staten Island park.

"I came four years ago with my oldest son Ricky," Meyers said. "This is a really great outing for the kids, no question."

No question, indeed, judging by the smile of CJ Fox of Nanuet, another PAL player whose dad, Donnie, confirmed that his surname is Fox with one X, unlike the Hall of Famer Jimmy Foxx.

"Double-X was my dad's favorite," he said, talking about his father Eddie, a minor-league player before World War II.

No question, too, that the road trip was just a prelude to others.

"You know, we used to make a lot of trips," said chief O'Shea, the PAL director and a driving force behind its various programs. "We want to get back to that. We want to make the trips affordable, just like this one. We have an excellent executive board, there are a lot of possibilities—maybe Radio City Music Hall, the Museum of Natural History, West Point basketball, among others. This is just the first of many."