Mets honor sandlot, amateur boosters

Wednesday, August 27, 2008 7:02 PM EDT

The New York Mets honored six local men with over 250 years of collective experience with sandlot baseball in the metro area, during their last home stand.

The pre-game ceremony on Saturday, August 23 paid tribute to winners of the 2007 and 2008 Greater New York Sandlot Athletic Alliance (GNYSAA) Raymond F. Church Service to Youth Baseball Awards.

The GNYSAA is the successor to the Journal American Sandlot Alliance established in 1940 by Sports Editor Max Kase and currently serves approximately 21,000 young people ages six- to 18-years-old in the New York City Metropolitan area.

It includes sandlot leagues from all over the metro area, including the Brooklyn-Queens CYO, Long Island City YMCA, Police Athletic League and the Queens Kiwanis Sports Association.

Shown here, (from left to right) are Joseph Victor, Athletic Director of the Lower East Side Gauchos Baseball Program; Christopher Arcari, President Long Island Connie Mack League (representing his late father Richard Arcari); Bill Klapach of the Staten Island Federation; Jack Kaiser, Athletic Director Emeritus at Saint John’s University in Jamaica; James McElroy, Chairman, Cadets Baseball Club; Bruno Franco, President of the New York City Baseball Federation and Jill Knee, New York Mets Director of Community Relations.