The North End Athletic Association held it’s annual Baseball Banquet at the TD Garden. Over 350 children and their families attended along with league coaches, commissioners, directors and sponsors. NEAA Baseball Coordinator John Romano was the Master of Ceremonies and thanked all of the sponsors for their generous contributions to held make the league affordable for all who want to play baseball. The NEAA especially thanked the Regional Review Newspaper for their sponsorship of the Cubs Team as well as outstanding coverage of the league throughout the year. Also, Garden President John Wentzell and Joyce Amoroso were thanked for the fantastic banquet hosted by TD Garden for the second year in a row. All of the league volunteer coaches were given a standing ovation for their outstanding contibution to the children and the league.
The North End Athletic Association Youth Majors’ Baseball Program is for children ages 9 to 12 years old. Children come from Beacon Hill, Back Bay, North End, East Boston, South End and several other communities. "Our program, while based out of the North End, has always been open to all who want to play baseball and want to enjoy a fun, educational, family oriented program" stated John Romano. "Our program will cost under $50 per player again this year, as it has for the last 50 years!"
Also honored at the banquet were The Youth Majors entry in the Mayor’s Cup, Suburban Travel League, the City of Boston’s Inner City League, The Richard Pacitti Cup Tournament as well as the NEAA’s entry in the Medford Little League’s Fall Ball Program. Some players will have participated in over 50 baseball games this year! Also the NEAA inconjunction with State Representative Aaron Michlewitz and the South End Little League participated in the 1st Annual North2South Baseball Classic, a home and home series between the NEAA and the South End Little League – a phenominal idea created by Rep. Michlewitz. Special awards were given to the Rookies of the Year, League MVPs, Pitcher of the Year, Uncle Fred Carangelo Awards (one player per team) and also the First Annual Sportsman of the Year – who went to Aaron Cronin.
Also a special recognition award was given to Jack Cronin & Kurt Cerulli for all of their contributions to the NEAA Baseball program for many years.
Also recognized at the Banquet were the NEAA Dodgers Traveling baseball program for Teenagers (13 to 16 year olds). The NEAA participated in the Lou Tompkins League for 13 & 14 year olds as well as the RBI Baseball Program (sponsored by the Boston Red Sox) for 15 & 16 year olds.
This upcoming year the NEAA will revitalize our in-house Babe Ruth League for 13 to 15 year olds, more information will follow in January.
Lastly, the 1st place Indians were honored as well as the Playoff Champion Tigers. A special thank was also given to Commissioners Peter Sherin and Frank Iudiciani for all of their years of service to the youth of the league.
This was another phenominal year for NEAA baseball and we plan on a bigger and better season next year. We will have T-Ball, Minor League, Youth Majors, Babe Ruth and Dodgers – encompassing baseball for ages 4 to 18. Information is always available on neaabaseball.com or by calling JR at (617) 880-9901 – See you all next year, tryouts are in 165 days!