12U team makes Cooperstown tournament through coaches’ sacrifices
(Photo courtesy of Farmingdale Baseball)
Baseball is about tradition. For Farmingdale Baseball, one event that stands out is the annual trip to Cooperstown that revolves around the organization sending a 12U team to compete in this tournament for the past 20 years. It’s a big enough deal that players from the in-house and travel programs, named the Farmingdale Greendogs, along with help from the town, fundraise for 12 months preparing to go to this event.
The Cooperstown tournament also represents the closing of a life chapter as it will be the last time many of these players will put on a uniform, as they will have aged out of the Little League program. Players as young as six years old in the Farmingdale program look forward to this series of games. It winds up being a monumental deal for the players, their parents and the community. With this many moving parts going into an endeavor of this size, the announcement 12 months ago that the prior coach was unable to continue coaching threatened to derail the 12U team attending this year’s tournament. The timing for this unfortunate set of circumstances came right after tryouts and just as the players were embarking on a dozen months of fundraising.
The Farmingdale Baseball League embarked on a search for volunteers who could help salvage this highly anticipated experience. The enormity of the task—coaching the players, parent interaction, fundraising, getting uniforms, holding practices, filing reams of paperwork and applying to other tournaments to ensure the team was keeping their chops honed—made it immediately clear that no one wanted to take on this responsibility.
Just as it seemed like the curtain was falling on the Cooperstown tournament, Chris Horowitz, one of Farmingdale Baseball’s vice-presidents and the Greendog’s Travel Director for the league, immediately stepped up and made the decision to take the helm. Horowitz did this despite not having a child on the team while simultaneously coaching his own son’s two other travel teams. Longtime Farmingdale resident Paul Quinn, who was also a coach and league director within Farmingdale Baseball, saw the the challenge and heavy burden Horowitz was taking on and also volunteered his services. And while Quinn also did not have a child on the team, his oldest son had played in Cooperstown many years before, so he had firsthand knowledge of how special an experience this tournament could be.
This extraordinary show of sacrice was one that floored Farmingdale Baseball Long Island Second Vice President Jim Loughlin.
“This team was led by two men who selflessly put their own time, family and other responsibilities aside in an effort to ensure that these boys would be led correctly and more importantly would not lose the opportunity to fulfill their dream of playing in Cooperstown,” Loughlin said. “These men took on this team with the intention of making certain these boys had this unforgettable experience. The focus was never to be the best or to win the tournament, but to simply give these boys and experience that otherwise was taken from them for no fault of their own.”
Horowitz and Quinn pooled their coaching acumen together and had their Greendogs tirelessly practicing, fundraising and preparing for the last time they would be going out and representing Farmingdale.
“We went in with the idea of not necessarily winning, but rather experiencing the thrill of the game and basking in the entire experience,” Horowitz said.
The combination of preparation and playing with nothing to lose had the Greendogs overachieving, earning themselves a place in the playoffs and advancing to the semi-finals in their division before ultimately losing.
The actions of two men coming together for the greater good of the baseball community and the children resonated with Diane Herbert, whose son William plays on the team.
“As we shared this experience together, we stopped frequently and remind ourselves that this trip is possible because of two Daler men, Chris Horowitz and Paul Quinn, who volunteered almost a full year of their time to make this experience happen,” she said. “Neither of these men have sons on this team. And one of them had the heartbreak of not being able to experience this tournament with his own son last year during COVID-19. Chris and Paul did not just give up a few hours on a random day, but have spent several hundred hours coaching our boys throughout the spring and summer, taking time out of their weekdays and weekends to practice and be on the field with our boys in all weather conditions. They planned and ordered special keepsakes to make their memories even better and took care of all of the administrative annoying tasks that come with a tremendous trip like Cooperstown. They helped our boys and families organize fundraisers to minimize the financial burden and were non-stop enthusiasts from the moment this journey started until now. Eleven Daler baseball players and their families will return to Farmingdale soon with memories that are forever etched in our hearts thanks to Chris Horowitz and Paul Quinn.”
It’s a sentiment echoed by league president Joann Vazquez.
“What these men have done for these boys and our organization is a perfect example of two men paying it forward. I could not be more proud of them both,” she said.
(Photo courtesy of Farmingdale Baseball)
2021 12U Farmingdale Greendogs Cooperstown Team
Christopher DiNota, William Herbert, Daniel Hilton, Nicholas Kost, Brendan LoFaro, Jake Marchetti, Cameron Mastrelli, Jake Mora, Jaden Pesante, Timmy Stoeber and William Wahl.
