You can practically smell the hot dogs.
Baseball is on its way back – but even before the New York Mets sent their pitchers and catchers to Spring Training this week, the squad at St. John’s got some much needed advice from a big league skipper.
Former Mets manager Bobby Valentine highlighted the Fifth Annual Baseball Bullpen Winter Banquet held at the New York Athletic Club on Wednesday, February 9.
“I thought Bobby was outstanding and I thoroughly believe that he enjoyed himself as much as our players did,” said head coach Ed Blankmeyer. “When he spoke to the team, he spoke like a coach and discussed a lot of the mental aspects of the game and it really reinforced some of the things that we’ve been working on as a team.”
Valentine touched on many issues that young ballplayers face on their way through the ranks, including how to simplify the game.
“This is a great game, but it is also a tough game,” Valentine told the players prior to the dinner. “But if you simplify the game, you can be very successful.”
Valentine joins Roger Clemens, David Wright, John Franco and Ron Darling on the list of guest speakers for the annual banquet.
“Having these great guest speakers every year means a lot to us,” said senior Joe Witkowski. “They each share different messages that are shaped by their big league experience and to have the chance to talk with them and ask questions has a big impact on us.”
It was a star-studded evening – with Hall of Fame coaches Jack Kaiser and Lou Carnesecca, St. John’s alum and four-time Mets all-star Franco and former Brooklyn Dodger pitcher and three-time all-star Ralph Branca all in attendance for the fifth annual event.
The event also featured a special video honoring Bob Sheppard. The video, which included comments from Kaiser, Carnesecca and five-time World Series champion Derek Jeter, honored the man known throughout the sports world as the “Voice of God.” Sheppard’s roots, however, are at St. John’s as an alumnus, athlete, professor, longtime “Voice of the Redmen” and member of the St. John’s University Sports Hall of Fame.
Current Johnnies were also honored at the event, with special awards presented to a pitcher and a catcher who both displayed on-field prowess in 2010.
The Peter P. Smith Most Valuable Player Award was presented to Jeremy Baltz, the program’s first consensus All-American. Baltz earned both National Freshman Hitter of the Year and Louisville Slugger National Freshman Player of the Year honors after leading the nation’s freshmen and breaking St. John’s single-season records in both home runs (24) and RBI (85). From the mound, Kyle Hansen was presented with the Howie Gershberg Award as the team’s most outstanding pitcher. Hansen earned Freshman All-America honors after going 8-3 with a 3.71 ERA and 85 strikeouts in 94.2 innings.
The St. John’s baseball team begins the 2011 campaign playing Minnesota, Michigan and Ohio State as part of the third annual Big East-Big Ten Challenge February 18 through February 20.
