1999 Stickball Classic
Brooklyn Longball Competition
Click for full size photos
Close to 40 people stepped up to the plate (several more than once) to
participate in the Brooklyn Longball Competition. More that a third of the
contestants were able to hit the ball 200 feet and thereby receive a Daily
News 2 sewer pin.
Contestants came from all over the city - and some from other cities as well.
Adam Villone (upper left hand corner) hit the distance of 200 feet to receive
a pin and also demonstrated two important points;
- Even some of us old guys can still hit
- Although they did weird things to the ball in Philly (like cutting them in
half for Halfball), the guys still could play stickball.
It looked as though Larry Salvato (upper right hand corner) of Marine Park was
going to be the champ with a mammoth 275 foot drive. However, Andre Liberato
of Sunset Park came by and whacked it 280 feet to take the lead. Andre had
hoped a Sunset Park team would come down and participate in the event. It
didn't happen, so instead he represented the neighborhood himself and won the
longball competition. The lower left hand shot shows Andre receiving his two
sewer pin from John Campi of the NY Daily News.
The final shot shows the Brooklyn Longball champ Andre "Sammy Sosa" Liberator
on the left and runner up Larry Salvato on the right.
Andre's family was
there to cheer him on.
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