Driving along Route 106, into Oyster Bay, it was hard to resist the enthusiastic sales people with their posters - Car Wash $5. The Yellow Jackets of Oyster Bay, an OBEN PAL Travel Baseball Team was holding one of its fund raisers at the Vernon Middle School on Saturday, Sept. 12.

Yellow Jackets coordinator Rich Bianculli was there along with coaches Rich Piovesan, Jim Basnight and parents John Pitta and Jim Tini. Their sons and other team members were wielding hoses and brushes cleaning cars as they pulled up beside the curb at the school.

The team members are: Rich Bianculli, catcher; Rich Piovesan, short stop and pitcher; Jim Basnight, 2nd baseman; Tim Pitta, outfielder; Tim Collins, outfielder; McClain Tini, pitcher and 3rd baseman; Craig Gridelli, pitcher and 1st baseman; Greg Battista, outfielder; Ed Hanna, pitcher; Michael Spiciarich, outfielder and Doug Anderson, 3rd baseman.

The Yellow Jackets started their career playing together when they were 9 years old. Now, they are 14.

"We've played all over in major tournaments from Florida to Cooperstown, to Rhode Island," said Mr. Bianculli.

They try to make two to three tournaments a year. This past year they played in four tournaments. In August they won the East Meadow Tournament; they won the Suffolk County PAL Labor Day Tournament in Ronkonkoma; they came in third at the Walt Disney Salute to Baseball in Florida at the Atlanta Braves Training Facility; they came in second at the Fourth of July Tournament in Ronkonkoma. "It's the greatest thing we can do for the boys, as parents," he said.

The volunteer job takes a great deal of commitment on the part of the parents. For Rich, it means between 25 to 30 hours per week: between practice, and getting kids back and forth to games. They start practicing in January and games start in April and end in November.

This year each kid took part in fund raisers, including the car wash and a raffle. Each kid was responsible for 250 raffle tickets. It's a 12-kid team. It costs about $12,000 to run the team for a year, he said.

When we played the Suffolk County PAL All Stars Team - they are sponsored by MetLife. Most travel teams have sponsors. To run this team for a year is like running a small business. "I just don't like going out and asking for money," said Rich.

He is also working with Tom Haefele, on the 9-year-old team. Rich Bianculli has two sons, 14-year-old Rich and 9-year-old Danny so he is committed to both teams. "I'm doing double duty. The kids come first with me," he said.

Besides giving of their time, the parents spend between $700 and $800 per child on the sport. "Contributions would be gratefully accepted," he said. With all the fundraising for children in the community, he has been reluctant to ask the community one on one, still he said, "We represent Oyster Bay wherever we go. To Maryland, to Brooklyn, and are known as the Yellow Jackets of Oyster Bay. We are known as a competitive team.

"We never sought sponsorship, and yet we are just regular dads." They are middle class families providing for their children, sometimes at a sacrifice.

Are some of the boys looking at baseball as a career?

Mr. Bianculli said "I don't know how good 'professional' players have to be." But he said, "All will be playing with their high school teams: Oyster Bay High School, St. Dominic High School and two will play with Chaminade."

The boys are learning more than sports, they are volunteering their time teaching other children what they have learned in PAL. They run baseball clinics for boys and girls in grades 1, 2 and 3 on Thursday nights at the Theodore Roosevelt Park. To sign up for the clinics, please call the OBEN PAL at 922-6647.