Our Supporters

 

“The Base­ball Tomor­row Fund sup­ports the growth of youth base­ball and soft­ball through­out the U.S. and around the world. We are pleased that Friends of Base­ball shares this com­mit­ment in the State of Oregon.” 

Cathy Bradley
Exec­u­tive Direc­tor
Base­ball Tomor­row Fund
www.baseballtomorrowfund.com


“Soft­ball is an expen­sive sport. We have a lot of ath­letes who play the game and the equip­ment require­ments are huge com­pared to most other sports we offer,” said Mark Han­ken, senior vice pres­i­dent, sports, Spe­cial Olympics Ore­gon. “The gen­er­ous grant from Friends of Base­ball will ensure that our State Sum­mer Games soft­ball play­ers enjoy a qual­ity tour­na­ment experience.” 

www.soor.org


“It’s really great to have groups like “Friends of Base­ball” that give such tremen­dous sup­port to our youth base­ball pro­grams. With­out these orga­ni­za­tions, many young peo­ple would not learn the true val­ues and rewards within the game of base­ball that will later lead to the game of life. I appre­ci­ate all that the “Friends of Base­ball” have done and wish them con­tin­ued suc­cess in their journey.” 

Pat Casey
OSU Col­lege World Series Cham­pi­onship Coach 2006, 2007
www.osubeavers.com


“I am very for­tu­nate to have met Keenan Long­cor and the Friends of Base­ball orga­ni­za­tion. I truly appre­ci­ate the work that they do and the resources that they share. Youth base­ball is filled with many young tal­ented peo­ple that with the right sup­port and guid­ance will grow to be great fam­ily, com­mu­nity and busi­ness lead­ers. Friends of Base­ball has demon­strated many times over that they are com­mit­ted to build­ing tomorrow’s lead­ers through their gen­eros­ity and ser­vant lead­er­ship today. We are very proud here at Demarini to be asso­ci­ated with such a great orga­ni­za­tion made up of so many fine peo­ple. Keep up the great work guys, you are dif­fer­ence makers.” 

Jerry Gar­nett
Marketing/Product Devel­op­ment
DeMarini
www.demarini.com


“Friends of Base­ball, keep up the good work in giv­ing every kid a chance to play base­ball. You give them the oppor­tu­nity to ‘become the best they can be.’ Base­ball helps them to develop the self-confidence, work ethic and sports­man­ship that is nec­es­sary to be suc­cess­ful in life.” 

Active and Old Timers Base­ball Asso­ci­a­tion,
Port­land, Ore­gon
www.oldtimersbaseballpdx.org


“Roberto’s Kids is pleased to endorse Friends of Base­ball, an orga­ni­za­tion that brings con­fi­dence to kids, teams, and admin­is­tra­tors. Their devo­tion to youth, fam­ily and the com­mu­nity of base­ball is a model that has the poten­tial to grow well beyond their dreams. I am proud to call Keenan Long­cor my friend.” 

Stephen Pin­dar
Founder
Roberto’s Kids
www.robertos-kids.org


“With tire­less work, Keenan Long­cor and Friends of Base­ball are mak­ing great strides in giv­ing our youth the oppor­tu­nity to play base­ball and shap­ing them into future ambas­sadors for the community.” 

Kelly Ire­land
Pres­i­dent
Metro Base­ball
www.metrobaseball.net


“The Port­land Beavers applaud the work Friends of Base­ball has done to pro­mote youth base­ball and the con­nec­tion is has to build­ing strong fam­ily rela­tion­ships. The well-being of Oregon’s youth is at the fore­front of the Port­land Beavers’ com­mu­nity focus, and it is a plea­sure to work with Friends of Base­ball to pro­mote this shared initiative.” 

Mer­ritt Paul­son
Pres­i­dent & Gen­eral Man­ager
Port­land Beavers / Port­land Tim­bers
www.portlandbeavers.com


“In my 35 years in sports man­age­ment, sel­dom have I been involved with such a sin­cere and altru­is­tic orga­ni­za­tion as Friends of Base­ball. They have been an inspi­ra­tion to other orga­ni­za­tions who are pas­sion­ately involved in improv­ing the expe­ri­ence of the game of base­ball in their com­mu­nity. They truly have become an angel in the outfield!” 

Dr. Lynn Lash­brook
Pres­i­dent and Founder
Sports Man­age­ment World­wide
www.smww.com


“The Ore­gon Sports Author­ity Foun­da­tion cher­ishes its rela­tion­ship with Friends of Base­ball. We whole­heart­edly endorse their mis­sion of pro­vid­ing deserv­ing youth the oppor­tu­nity to play base­ball in Ore­gon. Friends of Base­ball has made a huge dif­fer­ence in the lives of hun­dreds of young base­ball play­ers already, and we encour­age their phil­an­thropy for this cause in the future.” 

Drew Mahalic
CEO, Ore­gon Sports Author­ity
www.oregonsports.org


“We’ve found Friends of Base­ball to be a tremen­dous source of infor­ma­tion. They’ve been respon­sive to our ques­tions and have pro­vided the guid­ance needed to develop a plan to build a home field for Hol­ly­wood Lit­tle League. Friends of Base­ball has been incred­i­bly inspi­ra­tional to us.” 

Elliott Hill
Vol­un­teer, Hol­ly­wood Lit­tle League
www.hollywoodlittleleague.org


“Base­ball is a game that cap­tures the hearts of many, from the young Lit­tle Lea­guer to the older life­long fan. Despite all of the obsta­cles it has faced over the years, it will always be ‘America’s Pas­time’. Thanks to orga­ni­za­tions such as Friends Of Base­ball, I am thank­ful and con­fi­dent that the game of base­ball will con­tinue to grow, attract and engage the youth of Amer­ica for many years to come.” 

Demiko Ervin
Direc­tor of the Urban Ini­tia­tive Pro­gram
Lit­tle League Inter­na­tional
www.littleleague.org


“Friends of Base­ball is a great exam­ple of how a father and son’s (family’s) love of base­ball can fuel the true spirit of philanthropy.” 

David Rhode
Exec­u­tive Direc­tor
Pitch In For Base­ball
www.pitchinforbaseball.org


“Hav­ing worked with Friends of Base­ball, I can affirm that our two orga­ni­za­tions share com­mon visions in sup­port of pos­i­tive youth devel­op­ment. We look for­ward to work­ing with Friends of Base­ball for gen­er­a­tions to come.” 

Linda G. Lavi­o­lette
Exec­u­tive Direc­tor
Port­land Parks Foun­da­tion
www.portlandparksfoundation.org


“Those of us who share a pas­sion for base­ball under­stand that it is more than just a game. The rela­tion­ships we build, the mem­o­ries we make, the lessons we learn from both our suc­cesses & fail­ures, and of course, just the pure fun of the game are just a few rea­sons that make our national pas­time so spe­cial. With­out the help of Friends of Base­ball, many youth in our region would not be able to share in these expe­ri­ences. I will con­tinue to sup­port Friends of Base­ball in their quest to ensure that fam­i­lies across our region will always be able to hear those two great words, ‘Play Ball’!” 

Mike Thur­man
O.S.U. Beaver 1994, retired New York Yan­kee 2002.
Cur­rently N.W./Nor. Cal. Area Scout.
newyork.yankees.mlb.com


“Friends of Base­ball is great part­ner for the Briggs & Strat­ton Dia­monds in the Rough youth base­ball pro­gram. With the help of Keenan we were able to reach out to base­ball pro­grams through­out Port­land, offer­ing grant oppor­tu­ni­ties for field refur­bish­ment. We admire the orga­ni­za­tions com­mit­ment to youth and base­ball and look for­ward to our future partnership.” 

Katie Held­stab
Briggs & Strat­ton Dia­monds in the Rough youth base­ball pro­gram
www.briggsdiamondsintherough.com


“No other sport incites more pas­sion from its fans than base­ball. Those that have never felt it chuckle, but those who just know; for­ward­ing an oppor­tu­nity to our youth to feel that pas­sion is para­mount. This is why Friends of Base­ball is so impor­tant. Through pas­sion, big things hap­pen. Keenan is fueled by passion.” 

Isaac Ropp
Week­days 3–7 p.m
KFXX — Port­land
www.1080thefan.com


“It’s fan­tas­tic to have a group ded­i­cated to the over­all well-being of Base­ball in our com­mu­nity — Friends of Base­ball is exactly that! From T-ball to Pro ball, Friends of Base­ball is an advo­cate and a pos­i­tive voice in pro­mot­ing our great game. We’re proud of our rela­tion­ship with Friends of Base­ball as our orga­ni­za­tions share many of the same goals.” 

Jerry Walker
Pres­i­dent
Salem-Keizer Vol­ca­noes
www.volcanoesbaseball.com


“We appre­ci­ate Friends of Baseball’s devo­tion to perpeaut­ing the game here and its com­mit­ment to our youth. Keenan’s pas­sion is easy to rally around and we are pleased to work with Keenan and his group to pro­mote our favorite life teacher — baseball.” 

Dan Segel
Pres­i­dent
Knights Base­ball Club, Inc.
www.corvallisknights.com


Together Each Accom­plish More” is a team con­cept in ath­let­ics.. The coop­er­a­tive rela­tion­ship between NW Star Acad­emy and Friends of Base­ball work together in rec­og­niz­ing the con­tri­bu­tions and efforts of ath­letes, coaches and the many com­mu­nity vol­un­teers. We respect the many con­tri­bu­tions of FOB and are exited about the oppor­tu­nity to com­bine our efforts in pro­vid­ing a pos­i­tive envi­ron­ment for all involved in the great game of Baseball. 

Jerry Gatto
Pres­i­dent
N.W. Star Acad­emy
www.n.w.star.net

The Lit­tle League Soft­ball World Series and Friends of Base­ball share a great many of the same goals for young soft­ball and base­ball play­ers. Both rec­og­nize the life-lessons learned by play­ing in a team sport, where con­tes­tants play their own posi­tion to the best of their ability. 

Win or lose, girls who reach the pin­na­cle of play­ing soft­ball at Alpen­rose Sta­dium go home with mem­o­ries that last a life­time. Friends of Base­ball and the Lit­tle League Soft­ball World Series con­tinue to moti­vate youth around the world to strive for excellence.

Sue Seaver
Tour­na­ment Direc­tor
Lit­tle League Soft­ball World Series
www.softballworldseries.com