A Thank You From MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM FRIENDS OF BASEBALL
When MLB Com­mis­sioner Rob Man­fred issued his let­ter around this time last year, we were so inspired and moti­vated to learn that his pri­or­i­ties for Major League Base­ball aligned so well with our pri­or­i­ties to Keep Kids on the Field of Play.
He said, “Base­ball is a game firmly rooted in child­hood expe­ri­ences, and its vital­ity and growth rely heav­ily on giv­ing young peo­ple from all back­grounds the oppor­tu­nity to play and watch baseball.”
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That’s why we were hon­ored to have Com­mis­sioner Man­fred par­tic­i­pate in our 10th Anniver­sary Gala from afar with his spe­cial video mes­sage and con­grat­u­la­tions not just to our Founders, but to ALL OF YOU who have been there along the way to help us help more kids.

2015 HIGHLIGHTS and MORE TO COME…

• In 2015, we TRIPLED the num­ber of schol­ar­ships we pro­vided to boys and girls to play base­ball and soft­ball across Ore­gon and SW Washington.
• Hosted our 9th Annual Coaches Clinic with over 200 coacheswith ses­sions by Dave Gasser, Kevin Gun­der­son and guest trainer, Steve Ban­dura of the Ander­son Monarchs
• We launched our Full Count After School and Day Camp pro­gram and are expand­ing to 2 MORE SCHOOL COMMUNITIES this win­ter!
• We cel­e­brated 10 Years of Friends of Baseball’s work in the com­mu­nity at our Novem­ber Gala where we raised over $35,000
• And we have so much more to come this year…stay tuned!

Today, it’s the first day of  2016. You know what that means. A new sea­son ahead…

PLAY BALL,
Nova and Ben