Drawing a crowd of people of all ages, this Saturday, was the Wiffleball Homerun Derby, to benefit the MIRACLE Foundation, held at the St. Paul's fields.

The day began with a father-son wiffleball tournament, which started at 8:30 a.m. As the tournament went on, at noon, the homerun derby began, with baseball legend, three-time all star, Brooklyn Dodger Ralph Branca throwing out the first pitch. All proceeds from the homerun derby, an event established by Dan Donnelly to raise money for various charities, this year are going to the MIRACLE (Making In-Roads Against Cancer's Lasting Effects) Foundation, an organization established by Garden City resident Mike Tenaglia.

A cancer survivor himself, Tenaglia established the foundation to help relieve the discomfort and hardships of individuals diagnosed with Cancer and to reduce the cancer death toll through care, scientific research and education.

Those participating in the tournament were given 10 pitches for a $20 donation, with trophies being awarded to the highest scoring participants.

One of the fathers at the event, Ron Furman, congratulated Donnelly and his wife, Kathy, on the fine job they did putting the event together and described the couple as being the type of people who always, "give unselfishly of themselves."

Furman went on to introduce Ralph Branca to the crowd, noting, "The term, 'living legend' is not given to everyone." He went on to explain that the title is given to those who have left a lasting impression on the game, which Branca did. One of the things Branca is known for is having kept the rivalry between the hometown New York teams, the Dodgers and the Giants, alive.

Branca said that he was attending the event because "This is about family, it's about fathers and sons having a good time together." According to Branca, family and friendly competition are two of the things that keep America strong. Branca stressed the importance of a sound mind and a strong body and encouraged the youngsters in attendance to keep that in mind, to take care of themselves and not use substances which might hurt their bodies or minds.

Branca, while noting that he had never seen a wiffleball tournament, told those gathered that "Sometimes the best team doesn't always win, sometimes it's the team that plays best that wins," and he wished them luck encouraged those gathered to play their best.

Those gathered for the tournament and homerun derby enjoyed food from Leo's and bagpipe music as they did their best to hit as many homeruns as they could.