Results tagged ‘ PitCCh In Foundation ’
CC’s PitCCh In Foundation readies kids for school
For the fourth consecutive year, Amber and CC Sabathia and their PitCCh In Foundation helped youngsters get off to a strong start to the new school year. Margie Sabathia-Lanier, CC’s mother, delivered Tuesday nearly 3,000 backpacks (filled with items such as a 3-ring binder, pencils, a ruler, crayons, washable jumbo markers, a spiral notebook and pocket folders) to all first and second graders in the Vallejo City Unified School District in California. Sabathia’s PitCCh In Foundation will also provide back-to-school backpacks to youngsters in the Bronx in early September. Meanwhile, CC hopes to come off the disabled list Friday and start that night at Cleveland.
Sabathia is Yanks’ nominee for Clemente Award
CC Sabathia is the Yankees’ 2011 nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award presented by Chevrolet. The ace of the Bombers’ pitching staff is one of the 30 club finalists for the annual award, which recognizes a Major League Baseball player who best represents the game through positive contributions on and off the field, including sportsmanship and community involvement.
Wednesday will mark the 10th annual Roberto Clemente Day, which was established by MLB to honor Clemente’s legacy and to officially recognize club nominees of the award named for the 12-time All-Star and Hall of Famer who died in an airplane crash on New Year’s Eve 1972 while attempting to deliver supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.
In 2009, CC and his wife, Amber, officially established his “PitCCh In” Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports inner-city youth through funding and support of academic and athletic programs in the Northern California and New York areas. The foundation is committed to the care and needs of inner-city children while helping to raise self-esteem through sports activities and education.
Besides running baseball clinics, participating in school visits and hosting various charity events, Sabathia and “PitCCh In” often make efforts to give students a needed boost in their academic careers. Earlier this month, the foundation helped young children get a head start on the school year by donating backpacks filled with school supplies to 1,700 New York-area students at P.S. 106 Parkchester in the Bronx.
Every June, the Nathan Berhel Scholarship award, named in honor of Sabathia’s cousin and childhood friend who passed away in 2004, is given to Vallejo (Calif.) High School students who excel in the classroom and are part of athletic teams.
The Yankees will recognize Sabathia’s nomination for this year’s Clemente Award with an on-field ceremony at Yankee Stadium Sept. 22 prior to their 7:05 p.m. game against the Rays.
Former Yankees players who won the Clemente Award were Ron Guidry in 1984, Don Baylor in 1985 and Derek Jeter in 2009. Other ex-Yankees who won the award while playing for other teams were Dave Winfield (Twins) in 1994 and Al Leiter (Mets) in 2000. Phil Niekro, who won in 1980 with the Braves, later played for the Yankees. The 1982 winner was the Orioles’ Ken Singleton, now a Yankees broadcaster for the YES Network.
Beginning on Roberto Clemente Day, fans are encouraged to participate in the process of selecting the national award recipient by visiting http://www.chevybaseball.com/clemente, a site powered by MLB.com and created specifically for the Roberto Clemente Award presented by Chevrolet platform, and voting for one of the 30 club nominees. Yankees fans should reward CC for his charitable efforts by giving him their vote.
Voting ends Oct. 9. Participating fans will be automatically registered for a chance to win a trip to the 2011 World Series, where the national winner of the Roberto Clemente Award presented by Chevrolet will be announced.
The winner of the fan poll will receive one vote among those cast by the selection panel, which includes commissioner Bud Selig; Vera Clemente, Roberto’s widow and MLB Goodwill Ambassador; TBS broadcasters and former winners Cal Ripken Jr. (1992) and John Smoltz (2005); MLB Network analysts and former winners Harold Reynolds (1991) and Leiter, and MLB.com senior correspondent Hal Bodley.
Sabathias help kick off school year
For the second year in a row, Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia and his wife, Amber, helped young people in the Bronx get off to a good start to the school year by donating new backpacks filled with school supplies to 1,700 students in the area through the couple’s “PitCCh In Foundation.”
Amber Sabathia personally made the presentation Thursday morning during an assembly at P.S. 106 Parkchester (District 9) on St. Raymond’s Avenue while her husband was with the team in Baltimore. Thursday originally had been an off day for the Yankees, but a rainout last month at Camden Yards forced them to return there for the makeup game.
Backpacks were issued to youngsters in the third through fifth grade at P.S. 106. This year’s backpacks contained PIF Pencil/Ruler/Eraser/Sharpener Kits, wide-ruled notebooks and crayons and a CC Sabathia Bookmark.
CC will get vacation time at home
When the Yankees travel from Oakland to Anaheim after Wednesday afternoon’s game against the Athletics, CC Sabathia will stay behind in the Bay Area and spend time in his hometown of Vallejo, Calif. Thursday is an open date for the Yankees, so CC will have the rare opportunity to visit with old friends and relatives during the baseball season.
Sabathia won’t be removed from baseball, however. He will throw out the ceremonial first pitch at 7:05 p.m., PDT, Wednesday as part of the North Vallejo Little League Spring Classic between Majors Division teams called the Yankees and the Cardinals at Thurmon Field, a rebuilt facility which Sabathia underwrote through his PitCCh in Foundation.
“This game represents the achievement of another major milestone in the 43-year history of North Vallejo Little League and our PitCCh In Foundation,” Sabathia said. “I certainly look forward to it and will enjoy the change of pace for me to be able to take in a night game in my home town in the middle of the Major League Baseball season and not be in uniform.”
More than 350 youngsters enjoyed this year’s All Star Baseball Clinic presented by the PitCCh in Foundation last January and a record number of players signed up for the Little League. Efforts to revitalize the field began in late January 2010 with the opening of a new field that includes new irrigation, infield dirt, bases, pitching rubber, home plate, dugouts, a black vinyl coated chain link fence and 37,000 square feet of new sod. Adjoining the field is also a new snack bar where CC can enjoy refreshments while taking in the game.
CC supplies backpacks to 1st graders
Even before he took the mound last night for the Yankees in Kansas City, CC Sabathia was getting the job done in helping others. For the second consecutive year, Sabathia will direct his PitCCh In Foundation to aid first graders in his native Vallejo, Calif., get a good start to the school year with new, fully filled back-to-school backpacks.
Not just one school will participate this year. CC is making his backpack program available to all elementary schools in the district and their 1,500 first graders. The presentation of the backpacks, along with a video message from the Yankees lefthander, was made at 9:15 a.m. Wednesday by Margie Sabathia, CC’s mother, during a school assembly at Elsa Widenman School in Vallejo.
“I am a product of Vallejo schools – Loma Vista Elementary – and remember how important it was for me to feel prepared for that first day of school, so that’s why my mom, my wife Amber, and I feel so strongly about expanding this program,” Sabathia said. “I wish I could be there myself to give each boy and girl a high-five as they get their backpack, but I want them to know that I’ll be thinking about them when I go out to pitch this week.”
Each backpack will contain folders, lined paper, rulers, erasers, crayons, a pencil sharpener, a first-grade reading level book and a book marker along with an inspirational message from CC. His PitCCh In Foundation was founded in 2009 as a 501 (c) (3) national non-profit organization dedicated to enriching the lives of inner city youth by working to raise self-esteem through education and athletic activities. Since its inception, the organization has been very active in the cities where CC has lived and played.
A major project of the organization took place earlier this year when the Foundation was the driving force behind the rebuilding of the North Vallejo Little League Baseball facility where CC had once played. His mother Margie continues to be an active supporter and participant in the North Vallejo Little League and later this month will travel to Williamsport, Pa., where she will be recognized as the national Little League Parent of the Year.
CC and Amber Sabathia will personally distribute back to school backpacks to children in the Bronx in early September.
And don’t forget that CC is the Yankees’ representative in the Pepsi Refresh Project concentrating on Out2Play, the non-profit organization dedicated to building and refurbishing playgrounds throughout the New York City public school system. Each major league club has outlined an idea that they are passionate about and will vie for fans votes and an ultimate $20,000 Pepsi Refresh grand to fulfill the project. Fans have until 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 17, to cast their votes at http://www.mlb.com/PepsiRefresh or via text by typing the team name “YANKEES” to 76462.
Jack O'Connell
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