By:Karen Bonnet
On a sweltering summer day last week, excited friends and relatives took their seats at Shea Stadium to watch several dozen teenage boys be Yankees and Mets for a day.
Out of more than 200 avid baseball players, a total of 40 competitive and talented boys from Long Island, Westchester, and the five boroughs qualified to play in this year's Greater New York Sandlot Baseball Alliance All Star game. Jonathan Alto and Brendan Harrigan of Oceanside and Chris Gogarty of East Rockaway were among those 40 players at the stadium August 2.
Already in its 10th year, Sandlot attracts hundreds of 17- and 18-year-old boys looking for a chance to play on the same field as their heroes.
Richard Garrett coaches the Long Island Owls, the team all three boys are on, and believes the Sandlot game is run just like a Subway Series: there is a high level of competition.
At Shea Stadium on August 2, the Mets defeated the Yankees, 11-8, in an exciting game, and it was Harrigan and the Mets that pulled them ahead in the ninth to carry the day, said Richard Gogarty, Chris' father. It was a lot of fun watching them play at Shea, he added. Alto and Gogarty played for the Yankees.
The three local stars have known each other for many years as teammates on various Little League, and tournament teams, and as opponents on school teams. All three are captains for the first place Long Island Owls, and according to Garrett, they are the backbone of the team, both defensively and in spirit. All three of them are going on to play college baseball, and are very successful ball players and young men, he added.
As members of the Oceanside High School varsity baseball team for the past two years, Alto and Harrigan aren't strangers to success. This year the team was county champs, last year state.
Harrigan, who plays catcher, also played football on his high school team for the past three years. He credits his parents for inspiring him to play sports and plans to continue playing sports at Central Connecticut State starting this fall. For Alto, a New York Yankees fan, the day was a culmination of childhood dreams. Baseball has always been an important part of his life, he said, and his passion for the sport began as a little tike. He's played Little League, Senior League and on tournament teams throughout the years. He recalls coming in third at the state level during the Williamsport tournament, when he was 15 years old. As second baseman for his high school team, and for the Long Island Owls, he was thrilled when he was chosen to play in the game at Shea last week.
My coach called and told me I was going to play in the game. I was excited - it was like a dream come true to play on a major league field. Playing on a field like this is so amazing. I got to play on it once, but these guys play on it every day. I hope to do that one day, Alto said. Alto's will be attending Nassau Community College in the fall where he will play his favorite sport on the college's team.
Gogarty said baseball became part of his life at 5, when he began playing t-ball, and realized that he loved the game. He followed the game throughout his youth, he said. When I was younger, I loved to watch Howard John, nicknamed HoJo, he inspired me and was my favorite player then, Gogarty said.
The thrill of playing at Shea was two-fold for Gogarty, who plays third base, because he is also a die-hard Mets fan. Sitting in his favorite team's bullpen was a thrill, he said. I sat in the bull pen, looked around and realized that this is the same place where Mike Piazza sits every day he plays. He's my favorite player because he's good at what he does, Gogarty said.
