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The East Harlem Clean Machine
The Clean Machine is a stickball team that was started three years ago by a group of players from East Harlem who used to be addicted to drugs or alcohol. According to captain Luis Laboy "Our goal is to go out there, have a good time and show the youth that you can have fun without drinks or drugs. We try to provide an example to the kids. Perhaps some of them will learn from us and won't go through all that stuff." And provide an example they did. Perhaps the Washington Bombers were a bit overconfident. The Stickball Classic is round robin event and the Bombers had decisively defeated the Harlem Heat in their first game of the day 10-1. Midway in the game against the Clean Machine, the Bombers were already arguing that they shouldn't have to play the Old-Timers (winners of the second game) after they win, since it would be their third game of the day. Clearly the Bombers were not focusing on the game at hand and the level of competition. This was their mistake. According to Laboy, "The Bombers are most of the guys who won the East Harlem championship last year. They are a great team and we are in last place, so they probably took us for granted. But the thing is we have a lot of heart." The team's heart came through in the bottom of the 6th inning. Trailing 5-0, the Clean Machine put together a 7 run rally to take the lead. The Bombers then scored 3 big runs to go ahead 8-7, but the Clean Machine came back to rally for another 3 runs and the victory in the the bottom of the 7th.
This game was all about heart and spirit. As David Herc Negron said "We take
every day as if it's our last. We don't take nothing for granted. We all
came out of the gutter here. We're just thankful to have a second chance in
life. And you know, we really want our story to be a positive model for the
kids growing up now."
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