The Italian American Baseball Foundation (IABF) held its inaugural charity golf outing on Monday, September 9 at the exclusive Ramsey Golf & Country Club in Ramsey, NJ. You couldn’t ask for a more perfect late summer day to host 80 golfers and guests from the tri-state area.

The outing was emceed by Emmy-award winning on-air talent Matt Stucko of YES Network. Our guests had the exciting pleasure to be joined by notable baseball fan favorites 4x All-Star and 3x NL Saves Leader, John Franco; World Series Champion, Mike “Pags” Pagliarulo; 5x World Series Champion, Ramiro Mendoza; and former MLB player, Pat Kelly.

Our inaugural Golf outing raised, over $11,450 in proceeds that will go toward helping the IABF fulfill their mission of developing and promoting youth baseball & softball in the United States and Italy by sponsoring clinics and camps supervised by MLB players, scouts and College coaches. The IABF also donates baseball equipment to organized youth teams as well as individuals in need of uniforms, bats, gloves, cleats and more. Our future goal is to develop an international youth baseball/softball academy that will combine education and baseball.

It wouldn’t be justified if we did not mention all the incredible people and organizations that played an integral role in the success of this outing.

A special thank you to our corporate sponsors: AmTrust Title (Steve Napolitano, Senior Executive Vice President); Chadler Solutions (Richard Werley, Vice President); True Vodka (Vinny Cotono, CEO and Mike Barbieri, Principal Partner and Director of Sales & Dan Palumbo; Brooklyn Veterinary Group (Salvatore Pernice, D.V.M.)

We would like to thank the following businesses, organizations and individuals who sponsored holes: Alison E. Kosberg, Attorney-at-Law; Carmine & Sons Pizzeria & Restaurant; Carpets46; Charles G. Fiore, P.C.; Dan Palumbo’s Stuytown Baseball Summer Camp, Inc.; De Sapio Dual Citizenship Services; Hat Toppers, LLC; The Italian Tribune; Joseph J. Jordano, 2018 Inductee Member, N.I.A.H.O.F Pittsburgh; JQ Landscaping, Inc.; Mint Pros; Party Perfect Rentals; Paulson Investment Company, LLC; Roslyn Social.

Thank you also to our raffle and gift donors: De Cecco USA; The Italian Tribune; James Fiorentino, Artist; La Hoja Cigars; Leyna Rose, Photography + Fine Art; MLB; MLB Network; New York Giants; New York Jets.

Each guest received a bag filled with items from Carmine & Sons Pizzeria and Restaurant, The Italian Tribune, De Cecco USA and The IABF and were kept hydrated throughout the day by PepsiCo and Union Beer Distributors.

A unique live painting experience by one of the very few female sports artists in the country, Cortney Wall, allowed the guests to be a part of something that truly set the IABF’s golf outing apart from anything currently being done.

Her talent is unparalleled and created a one-of-a-kind 30” x 40” Joe DiMaggio painting with The IABF logo on the sleeve of the jersey and autographed by each of our special guests, John Franco, Mike “Pags” Pagliarulo, Ramiro Mendoza and Pat Kelly.

The painting was auctioned during the event and eagerly won by an avid Yankees fan.

Our sincere thanks go out to all the above for making our inaugural golf outing a huge success! We would be remiss to not send a large thank you to Michael Treible, Director of Catering at Ramsey Golf & Country Club, Noah Bodt, Head PGA Golf Professional and their entire staff who were fantastic in providing support leading up to and day of the event.