Bronx, NY: Who say's a little rain can stop men and boys from having fun? That was not the case today in
the South Bronx, when Alex Rodríguez, Jerry Hairston and Sergio Mitre showed up to play a little “pitching in stickball” drizzle and all. The reason for this visit to the lot on 154th St and River Avenue (the lot with all the Yankee murals) was to take some stickball swings against a number of local kids and to show that men can be boys and boys can be men, even if just for a few hours.
The event was organized by, Ray Negrón, Yankee Special Assistant and author of several children’s books. Mr. Negrón has been instrumental in organizing several events on behalf of the NY Yankees commitment to have players integrate more with the community.
Today’s stickball experience was one experience that many of those kids will take with them forever. How many kids can say that they pitched against a professional baseball player, a NY Yankee, an Alex Rodriguez?
From the looks of the pitching rotation, approximately 10 kids, all under 12 had the opportunity to say that they pitched against some of the best. The kids took their role very serious as each took their turns, they would stare into the eyes of these Yankee players and pitch to them without fear.
Both Alex Rodríguez and Jerry Hairston took some good swings, Alex connecting for perhaps 6 hits out of 45 pitches, of which more than half were way outside the strikeout box painted on the wall. He was hit by one pitch, but took it in stride as he lined the next pitch for a hit.
Alex looked relaxed, much more than I had ever seen him in past functions. To his credit, he did not show up with a slew of bodyguards and security personnel, nor did he appear to be in a rush to go somewhere else, which has been some of the previous criticisms of him. Alex even walked over on his own to the chain link fence separating those outside the lot with those inside to greet them and allow them to take pictures, something that they had been screaming for.
Though he was driven to the field from the stadium (3 blocks away) he appeared to be genuinely enjoying this encounter with the kids. Let’s face it how many times has Alex had the opportunity to face a pitcher and not worry about getting on base, hitting a homerun, or driving in a run, but just having fun?
After the stickball game, the players went to Billy’s Bar & Lounge where they were met by another group of children all sitting and waiting to see and hear these three Yankee players.
Prior to this part of the event, all the kids were treated to lunch and a brief introduction at Billy’s. When Alex, Jerry and Sergio walked in they were greeted by all the kids and their parents, or guardians.
All three players spoke and stated how much they enjoyed playing with the kids. Alex Rodriguez hit a “Grand Slam” when he encouraged the kids to “read, read and read” and focus on education. “If you can read one book a month and hit 12 homeruns in one year then you really achieved something great,” he told them.
Lenny Caro, President of the Bronx Chamber of Commerce gave each player a certificate of appreciation. Julio Pabón, President of Latino Sports took the opportunity to inform everyone that Alex Rodriguez had won the prestigious LatinoMVP award and that he would be getting his special award at a ceremony on September 11th, 2009 at Yankee stadium as part of Hispanic Heritage Month.
Every child was given a $25 dollar Modell’s Gift Card on behalf of the players and Modell’s.
Ray Negron writes book about Yankee Stadium, George Steinbrenner
BY Christian Red
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER Wednesday, March 18th 2009, 8:35 PM
Reggie Jackson's three home runs off three different Dodgers pitchers in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series? Check.
Dave Righetti's no-hitter in 1983? How about Dwight Gooden's no-no 13 years later? Yep, he was in the House That Ruth Built to celebrate both pitching milestones.
And he was on hand for the final Yankee Stadium curtain call on Sept. 21, when the Bombers closed out the 85-year history of the famed ballpark with a 7-3 win over Baltimore.
Ray Negron, 53, a special assistant to the 26-time World Series champion Yankees, has taken in plenty of history and heartache, controversy and celebration during three decades' worth of Yankee Stadium history.
But along the way, Negron's most prized connection with the franchise is the friendship he forged with the team's owner and patriarch, George Steinbrenner, which started when Steinbrenner caught a teenage Negron spray-painting the walls of the Stadium in 1973.
"This is a total tribute to The Boss," says Negron of his children's book "One Last Time," set for publication this month. "And it's for all the kids that (Steinbrenner) has helped over the years - the kids that knew him and the ones that didn't understand why he cared about them."
The book, Negron's third, tells the story of a Yankees bat boy named Ray - yes, Negron was a Bombers bat boy when Steinbrenner made him "work out" his punishment for the graffiti transgression - who is summoned by Steinbrenner to carry out a special task: Conveying to the past Yankee greats that the history and magic of the old Stadium will continue in the new one.
Negron says writing about the hallowed stadium - "my cocoon for the last three decades" - was not something he took lightly. "I always ask for permission from The Boss to do these books," says Negron. "And I told him I was messed up about losing Yankee Stadium. But he told me, 'You have to move on.' I'll always be a (Bobby) Murcer, (Mickey) Mantle, (Joe) DiMaggio, (Lou) Gehrig and Reggie guy when it comes to the Yankees. But I've accepted the new stadium, because the spirits have accepted it."
Jackson, who solidified his nickname "Mr. October" with the '77 Series performance, said he had no qualms about writing the foreword to "One Last Time."
"I've known Ray practically his whole life," says Jackson, "and I've never said no to anything he's asked of me. He's been like a family member to George. Ray's done very well with these books as a tribute to the Yankees' history." read article on NY Daily News .:
The Babe and Jackie: One in the same
Legends of Ruth, Robinson tied together in Ray Negron's new book By Jon Lane / YESNetwork.com
One is considered the greatest ballplayer that ever lived. He was larger than life and brought the home run into the mainstream. He was once the Yankees' single-season record holder for homers and the game's all-time leader in the category. Off the field, however, Babe Ruth had a reputation for reckless behavior, for he was known as a hard-core partier and womanizer.
The other broke down Major League Baseball's racial barriers, ending approximately 80 years of baseball segregation by becoming the first African-American player of the modern era in 1947. Both off and on the field, however, Jackie Robinson was a man scorned strictly due to the color of his skin, hated as much as Ruth was loved.
Both changed the game forever. And both are connected more closely than you think. Yankees senior advisor Ray Negron's new book unlocks the mystery to the unique relationship between the two legends in "The Babe and Jackie: The Greatest Story Never Told." The story, released on Tuesday, is about, to paraphrase Sammy Davis Jr., love, peace and togetherness.
"The Babe and Jackie were about the aspect of togetherness," Negron said. "People didn't see the actual heart and soul of what these two guys represented, which is the same thing, especially when it came to kids."
Much of Negron's role with the Yankees is devoted to community relations and children in need. A frequent visitor to children's hospitals and a good-will ambassador to numerous charities, Little League organizations and the Boys & Girls Club to help raise funds for their programs, Negron is off the success of his first book, "The Boy of Steel," which rose to No. 2 on the New York Times Bestseller List and is on display at the Baseball Hall of Fame. Negron did not make a dime off "The Boy of Steel." All proceeds were distributed through the New York Yankees Foundation for cancer research and education. continue reading complete article .:
Inside Man: A Bronx Tale
by Alex Belth
1/15/2008
A Four-Part Bronx Banter Exclusive
[Author's Note: This story was written last summer. It covers Ray Negron's life from the spring of 2006 through the spring of '07. Some of the basic facts stated in the piece have changed: Joe Torre is no longer the manager of the Yankees; Hank and Hal Steinbrenner have taken control of the team; Negron has just completed his seventh children's book for Harper Collins. But, despite these events, the essence of Ray's story remains true. I hope you enjoy.]
"Let me show you the Boss's suite," says Ray Negron. It is a cool evening in early May, 2006, and Negron's boss, George Steinbrenner, the principal owner of the New York Yankees, is out of town. Several hours before game time, Negron, 51, is walking down the outer corridor of the loge section at Yankee Stadium, his head cocked like an upper classman with the run of the school. He exudes an insouciant confidence, the kind of man who is used to keeping his cool in hot situations. Negron has short black hair and skin the color of café au lait. His large, liquid brown eyes and long eyelashes are almost feminine; his cheeks sag--the sign of a thin man growing older—and lend a sense of gravity to an otherwise boyish countenance. As usual, Negron looks crisp. He is wearing a gray, patterned suit and slim brown shoes. On his right ring finger is a massive gold World Series ring from the 1996 Yankees.
"I can't wait for the new Stadium," Negron says. "Maybe I'll get an office."
"The ubiquitous Ray Negron," a veteran New York sportswriter calls him. Negron is a gypsy, constantly on the move, from the executive suites through the press box down to the locker room. He does not even have his own desk; instead, he totes everything he needs in a leather-bound book with a Spaulding logo embossed on the cover: Negron serves as a director of community relations for the sporting goods company, one of his many jobs. The book is filled with notes scribbled in different colored inks--reminders, phone numbers and addresses. Continue Reading Part One .:
Ray Negron was only supposed to work a couple of games to re-pay his debt, but then one of the regular bat boys got sick, and in no time, Negron had himself a steady job. He moved on the field with the languid movements of a professional, his uniform fitting tightly, his stirrups pulled up just so. At 145 lbs, Negron was too skinny to be confused with a big leaguer though the players occasionally tried to pass him off as one of them when he was on the road with them, to get him laid. "You said it, not me," Negron squeals with delight, remembering today.
When the Yankees took batting practice, Negron was busy with the daily clubhouse chores, but he would sneak in a couple of swings in the batting cage or hang around at shortstop and take ground balls while the visiting team came to hit. One day, the Texas Rangers were in town and Negron was playing short against live bp when he made a couple of good fielding plays. Billy Martin, the Rangers manager, a man rarely without a fungo bat in his hand, was standing on the third base side of home plate. He turned his attention to the boy, motioned with his hand and then tossed a ball up and cracked a hard groundball at him.
"Billy noticed that I could play," Negron recalls. "Later, he introduced me to two of his middle infielders, Lenny Randle and Davey Nelson. Every time Texas came to town, I would ball boy down the right field line so I could hang with them. They taught me and to this day, I can honestly say that I'm still friends with both of them." Continue Reading Part Two .:
When Reggie Jackson left New York, Ray Negron's glory days came to an end. Now, he had to adjust to a more mundane reality, and a greater challenge—how to advocate for himself. Negron had defined himself by what he could provide to other, more famous men.
"Growing up is hard," says Negron. "In baseball, you are a kid forever. When I left the Yankees, I didn't have the players to protect me anymore." Negron married his longtime girlfriend Barbara Wood in 1981; they got an apartment in Far Rockaway, had a son four years later, and were divorced before the end of the decade. "It was hard to give my heart and soul to a situation when I didn't really want to be there," he says. Continue Reading Part Three .:
It is a cold, gray December morning. Ray Negron pulls up in front of Yankee Stadium in a white GMC, a leased car he uses when he's in New York. He is fifteen minutes late. The car is messy—Reggie Jackson would not approve.
With him is Aris Sakellaridis, a stocky, square-jawed retired corrections officer in his mid-forties. He is originally from Washington Heights. "I'm a ghetto Greek," he says with a laugh. Aris is wearing a gold Georgia Tech baseball cap and a white jump suit with a thick navy blue strip with gold trim down the side. Around his waist is a black fanny pack. Sakellaridis lives on a pension; he wrote Retired Yankee Numbers, a glossy picture book illustrated by the caricaturist, John Pennisi. Sakellaridis hands me his card, which features an illustration of himself by Pennisi. Sakellaridis is smiling broadly wearing a baseball uniform with the number 69.
Negron is on his way to speak at a community center and has agreed to make a slight detour to show me his old neighborhood in Hunt's Point but he's not sure exactly how to get there. "Outside of Yankee Stadium I don't know shit about the Bronx," he says. Negron tells me that a niece that he's never met—the daughter of one of his estranged half-brothers—had recently contacted him through the Internet. He talks about future book projects and how he approaches his work with humility and sincerity, and he is annoyed that there is a perception that his intentions aren't always genuine.
"You know what worries me honestly," says Aris cocking his head to the side. "Steinbrenner, he ain't in as good a health today from what you read. What happens when he goes? They going to get rid of Ray? But hey, Ray lives, man," Aris continues. "He'll be alright. Ha-ha-ha." Continue Reading Part Four .:
Former bat boy Negron recalls '77 Yankees exec had front-row seat for Bronx escapades
Ray Negron was just 21 years old, but he was a dead-on witness to an incident that snapped a national viewing audience at attention. The feud between Billy Martin and Reggie Jackson had reached 212 degrees Fahrenheit and Negron's ears were fine-tuned to words muted to those staring at a tube in disbelief.
It was theater made for soap opera writers who build and tease for weeks before pushing the climatic red button. The year 1977 would be a challenging one for New York City. A blackout sapped New York of its power -- when temperatures were in triple-digits -- causing looting and riots that obliterated Crown Heights and Bushwick. President Jimmy Carter subsequently turned his back on a city whose mayor, Abraham Beame, was on his knees begging for federal aid. Partygoers flocked to Studio 54 for disco and drugs. The innocent hid from the Son of Sam.
Sheltered from one crazy summer were a group of players and coaches who composed the 1977 Yankees, a team off its first AL pennant in 12 years and still searching for its first World Championship since 1963. But to think the clubhouse was a peaceful haven is to be naïve. Jackson had alienated himself from his manager, Martin, and captain, the respected Thurman Munson, since accepting George Steinbrenner's big bucks and bringing his star from Baltimore as baseball's marquee free-agent.
Negron was the Yankees' bat boy responsible for all tasks menial and great, a kid who had a 20/10 view of the circus that surrounded a group under perpetual scrutiny from Steinbrenner, its impulsive, win-now-or-else principal owner. Yet Negron insists it was a lot of fun too, even though he often bore the brunt of tomfoolery, like the time Ron Guidry, Sparky Lyle and Dick Tidrow threw him in a garbage bin. continue reading complete article .:
Making the Play
An Ex-Yankee still creates drama in the Bronx by Melissa Segura read article .:
Hitting the write note for kids
Babe, Boss star in Yank exec's children's books
BY ANDREW J. HAWKINS Daily News
Tuesday, July 17th 2007
Yankees executive Ray Negron said he owes his newfound success as a children's book author to the big man upstairs - George Steinbrenner.
"What he's done for me and a lot of other kids is just wonderful," Negron, 51, said of "The Boss."
As a teenage tough growing up in Queens during the turbulent '70s, Negron was caught spraying graffiti on the side of Yankee Stadium by Steinbrenner himself. Rather than bust the troubled youth, the Yankees owner showed mercy and made Negron a bat boy.
Years later, Negron is living up to his potential. He is a special adviser to Steinbrenner, he has acted in several movies, and now he's making his name as an acclaimed writer. read article .:
Written redemption December 21, 2006
Indebted to George Steinbrenner for turning his life around, a Yankees adviser has penned a touching story of a sick child whose dream comes true. read article .:
By
Jeff Passan, Yahoo! Sports Jeff Passan is an award-winning reporter who previously was the national baseball writer for The Kansas City Star. He graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in journalism.
South Bx. Kids Play Stickball With Yankee Players
One is considered the greatest ballplayer that ever lived. He was larger than life and brought the home run into the mainstream. He was once the Yankees' single-season record holder for homers and the game's all-time leader in the category. Off the field, however, Babe Ruth had a reputation for reckless behavior, for he was known as a hard-core partier and womanizer. 
When Reggie Jackson left New York, Ray Negron's glory days came to an end. Now, he had to adjust to a more mundane reality, and a greater challenge—how to advocate for himself. Negron had defined himself by what he could provide to other, more famous men.
