C RY D E R
P O I N T
AUGUST 15
Work to rehab Queens baseball fields
continues at Whitestone park
Workers and volunteers rehabilitate the Little Bay Park baseball field on June 26
Photo courtesy of Bobby Gellert
WWW.QNS.COM | AUGUST 2018 | CRYDER POINT COURIER 15
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
SMONTEVERDI@QNS.COM / @SMONT76
A Whitestone ballfield is ready to welcome the
next generation of baseball players as a local
effort to revitalize the sport in the borough
continues.
On June 26, an all-day rehabilitation effort occurred
at Little Bay Park, where workers refurbished and manicured
the ballfield in the span of about six hours. The field
is the second in northeast Queens to see renovations in
recent months in an undertaking led by Bobby Gellert, a
local businessman.
The Courier first spoke with Gellert when he began
the initiative in May, shortly after the Whitestone native
decided he wanted to begin a project to give back to his
hometown. Gellert had reached out to DAC Athletic
Club, an organization he belonged to as a child, and told
current executive director John Zullo about his desire to
see baseball’s position as “America’s pastime” locally restored.
The duo quickly got to work rehabilitating one of the
two existing fields at Fort Totten in Bayside, hoping improved
conditions at the neglected grounds would foster
an increased interest.
Taking a similar approaching to the first Fort Totten
ballfield, Zullo coordinated with a field maintenance
company, Three Guys Maintenance, and Gellert, through
his company Shares of New York, donated the necessary
funds to renovate at Little Bay Park.
“We did this project for the same reason as the first: to
motivate kids to play baseball,” Gellert said. “We received
a lot of feedback from the first field and then immediately
from the second field. We continue getting really great
feedback from the community.”
This time around, the group had to coordinate with the
NYC Parks Department, which owns the property. Gellert
said representatives at the city agency welcomed news
of the capital investment.
“NYC Parks has a need for assistance in capital — for
working on not only baseball fields, but on other parks
throughout the city,” he said.
Plans to renovate the second Fort Totten field, which
is in the worst condition of the three, are still in the
planning stages, as it will take the largest funding commitment.
Gellert also said he and Zullo have identified
other baseball fields throughout Queens that need attention.
Gellert is in the process of forming “Fields of New
York,” a nonprofit organization through which he and his
company will raise funds to further his mission to revive
baseball in the local community. The Chappaqua resident
hopes to further his mission in Queens, Westchester and
beyond.
“The thought is that the leagues around town will use
the fields, more kids will come out, and it will sort of
snowball from there,” he said. “It’s starting to have an impact.
Everything is really starting fall into place.”
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