SBA Awards Dinner Features Pete Rose Q & A

Friday, 14 December 2012 00:00

Syosset Baseball Association (SBA) recently held its annual Awards Dinner at Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury. The event honored those teams in the A through Major League Divisions for their accomplishments throughout the 2012 spring intramural season along with awarding trophies to the champions and runner-ups in each of the respective divisions. The ceremony also acknowledged those SBA players that played travel baseball during the summer and fall seasons.

In spite of the fact that Hurricane Sandy had recently hit the area and many SBA families were without power or facing damage to their property, the organization chose to hold the event to give members a diversion from the cleanup, warmth and a hot meal. Those in attendance were treated to one of the greatest baseball hitters of all-time with former Cincinnati Reds, Montreal Expos and Philadelphia Phillies player, Pete Rose, joining the group.

Rose was introduced with a round of applause and acknowledged his appreciation to everyone for coming out to see him in light of the circumstances. He then spoke for approximately an hour, sharing anecdotes and facts from his baseball career. “I made 10,328 outs in my career and I’m hear today and you’ve paid me to come here to speak to you!” he said.

Everyone in attendance was given a statistic sheet of Rose’s accomplishments in his historic baseball career, unlikely to be surpassed by any baseball player playing today. Those statistics included:

-MLB all-time hits leader with 4,256 hits

-Ranks, 1st, all-time, in games played with 3,562.

-Ranks 1st, all-time, in career total bases for a switch hitter: 5,752.

-Ranks 2nd, all-time, with 746 career doubles

-Tied for second longest hitting streak in MLB history: 44 games

-Career RBI’s 1,314.

-Career Batting Average:  .303.

-World Series MVP in 1975.

All tables were given a questionnaire along with pens to personally ask Rose questions of their choosing. They were called up to the microphone to personally speak with Rose, who graciously answered their questions. One member asked if Rose was intimidated by any pitcher, to which he replied, “No, no one intimidated me.”

One 10-year-old boy asked, “Do you think anybody will break your record?”  With some humor, Rose looked the boy in the eye and stated emphatically, “No, and you can bet on that!”

After the question and answer session, Rose personally autographed for each player in attendance a photo of his historic hit on Sept. 11, 1985, when he hit his 4,192nd hit: breaking Ty Cobb’s record for most hits by a player.

All players were called up to receive their trophies for the 2012 intramural season as well as the First Annual SBA Yearbook. Player’s also received a 15 percent off coupon to Modell’s Sporting Goods (SBA is currently receiving 5 percent of all purchases made at Modell’s through Dec. 20.) Modell’s is pleased to continue its association with SBA and has announced that now, SBA families can shop at the new store located nearby in the Plainview Shopping Center.

The organizers at SBA would like to extend their thanks and appreciation to the following benefactors for their generous contributions to the evening’s events: Platinum Maintenance; WS Group; Quality Building Services; Environmental Building Solutions, LLC; and PAL Environmental Safety.

As this concludes the SBA’s 58th season of baseball, the organization now turns its attention to the upcoming 59th season, with registration for the 2013 intramural season up and running. Evaluations for the new season will be held in late January/early February, and the second year of Blast Ball will be starting up soon as well. For more information about the SBA, visit www.syossetbaseball.org.