Curtis Sliwa, the Stickball Commissioner is now at the mike.

“I’d like to thank all the people for coming out and celebrating what this little pink ball meant for us growing up in the streets of NYC. Stickball in the streets, stickball in the schoolyard, punchball, handball, boxball, and the 100 different games that we played.

This ball was an important part of what it meant to grow up in the City of New York, then, twenty years ago it vanished like the Dinosaurs of old. But thanks to Spalding it’s now back

Thanks to John Campi of NY Daily News who understood the importance of these games to the youth of our city, and how they actually helped make the streets safer because people were out there playing the games.

Today’s contest is the kickoff for the competition that will be taking place in NYC and Hudson County. Today is an exhibition -a distance contest. We’re going to see if the people can hit the legendary 3 sewers.

Stepping up to the plate will be 10 members from the Fire Department led by the Commissioner Tom Von Essen, 10 members from the Police Department, led by Commissioner Howard Safir and a celebrity team lead by the greatest manager of all Joe Torre.

The celebrities will bat first.