Good morning, Patterson. Several people asked me why I am wearing an orange and blue suit today. And as much as I want to say it's for the first place New York Mets, it's actually for
East Side High School where Larry Dobby starred in multiple sports. And I was recently at the Patterson Museum and I looked at his yearbook picture and he mentions playing football and
basketball. What was conspicuous by his absence was that he didn't mention he played baseball in his yearbook. But here we are today celebrating an icon.
Let it be noted that he didn't even have any minor league experience to prepare him for what he was going to have to endure. The day before on July 4th, he was with the Newark Eagles and then Bill Vic came calling and saying, "Get ready.
You're going to the big leagues." So, we want to pay proper tribute to Larry Doby who stepped up to the plate for civil rights, who stepped up to the plate for equal rights, who stepped up to the plate for human rights and hit a home
run. So today, for anyone, especially someone playing at East Side High School, whenever they step up to the plate, they got to think about Larry Dolby, his legacy, his leadership, his courage, and hit a home run, too.
Leading off today is an honorary Pattersonian who I met five years ago when we said we are going to bring Hinchliff Stadium back where Larry Dolby had his try out for the Newark Eagles where African-Americans play when they were not allowed to play Yankee
Stadium or Wrigleyfield or Fenway Park with their white counterparts, but they played in Patterson at historic Hinchlift Stadium. He's our ambassador for Hinchlift Stadium. You've seen him on MLB Network, a twotime MLB Allstar
and threetime Gold Glove winner. Put your hands together for our leadoff hitter and honorary Pattersonian, Harold Reynolds. Go get him, Harold. Go get him, Harold. Thank you, Mayor. My hype, man. Appreciate that. Hello,
everybody. Good afternoon. First off, how gorgeous is this? Yes. Come on. I mean, it's amazing. Now, I spent how many years? 13 of my 14 years playing on astroturf in Seattle. So, I'm partial to
turf. I grew up in Oregon, the best grass and trees in the country. Really? Except for maybe New Jersey. Thank you. But we would have never played because of the rain. Now, we've experienced that here this week. And about the the turf. It's beautiful. It's
gorgeous. Uh I got a chance to meet uh Mr. Dolby uh back when I was playing in the American League for Seattle. Uh a tremendous, tremendous man. And you always wonder uh what somebody's like when you don't get a chance to spend
time around them. I spent more time around his son than I have him. And my grandmother used to always said he doesn't fall too far from the tree, right? And when you spend time with his son and you see some of his siblings in this area or extensions of his family,
you can tell that he had a major impact on them as well. just the generosity, character, the way they carry themselves. A tremendous representation of Larry Dolby. So, Larry Junior, I tip my cap to you, keeping that legacy alive and and carrying the family. Uh, I'm
sure your dad be very proud. He'd also be very excited about this ballpark. Uh, tremendous place. But on a day today where we get to talk about Larry Dolby, I think it really comes down to the character. Yeah. A lot of people have done a lot of great things in their lives, but they're not getting dedicated
fields, sports facilities, things like that. And you don't do that unless you've done some major impact on other people's lives. And that's been Larry Dolby. So, I'm excited to be here today. Uh, tremendous to see this ballpark and be able to be part of this uh tremendous
ceremony. So, thank you. Congratulations to the Dolby family and thank you to Patterson and to the mayor for recognizing one of the great Americans of all time. Thank you. Amen. Thank you. Look at Harold. Always gets on base. That's why he's our
leadoff hitter. And Harold was right about Oregon grass also gas. Well, we don't pump our gas in New Jersey, but now they do. I don't know. I think there was a new law. But anyway, we don't want to debate that right now. Grass and
gas. We're here to talk about class and Larry Dobby. Someone who introduced me to Larry Dobby. I met Larry Doby right here on this field on June 1st, 2002. Is a day I'll never forget. He leaves quite an impression upon you. In fact, the
gentleman that introduced me was instrumental in securing the state funding that made this transformation possible and knows a little bit about athletics. arguably the most successful football coach around. Patterson
Catholic, I believe it was seven state championships. Or did I miss one? Seven. Very good. I did my homework and ate my waties this morning. Seven state championships. One I was about to go there. Went to Puerto Rico with East Side High School, Larry Doby's alma
mater, and won a championship there as well. Ladies and gentlemen, our director of the division of recreation and our state senator here in legislative district 35, the honorable Benji E. Wimberly. Yeah. Good morning, uh, mayor, all the
distinguished guests, and obviously Larry Jr., it really was an honor to work with, uh, Larry on this field. I just was telling Larry Jr. uh for a couple of years. Me, him, and Joe Tob who paid the initial cost of the field
came through Joe Tob the Top Foundation. uh we would meet at the bonfire and uh for lunch or either pals in West Orange for lunch and the one thing to laugh he made sure that this field was going to be grass and uh I think he would approve this I I think he would approve this
being turf uh because uh it's a beautiful uh field and the one thing I can say the lessons I learned from Larry Dolby are beyond books uh years of sitting with him having lunch and dinner and different things with him and Joe Tob I learned so much about Patterson
and the one thing that they always talked about was the old Patterson. Some of the times when it was integration uh right here in the city of Patterson when they walked to the movies together, you know, uh uh one uh Joe would go downstairs, Larry would go upstairs and uh the different areas of town that were
segregated and even though they both grew up on the fourth ward, you know, Joe on Carl Street, Larry at uh 512th Avenue, which my grandparents actually lived on 12th a also. I've heard so many great stories, but the one thing that I would say about Larry Dolby and this field is it is literally a field of
dreams. I commend our Patterson Oldtimers Youth Baseball League uh for the work that they do with our youth. Uh Eastside High School, our mighty go will be playing here as their home field. Uh and I always told uh Larry uh he was uh
instrumental in 1993 when we won the county championship, the one and only county championship in baseball for East Side. He arranged for us to get brand new uniforms and those uniforms we said were amazing and they led us to championships. We also traveled to Puerto Rico that year as a baseball team and that is something that these kids
will live on forever. it would be so long forever that one of my former players on East Side is now the athletic director at East Side who was a great baseball player and just like Larry a three sport athlete at East Side High School and I think himself uh TJ Hill
and Sean Cbrooks are the only people behind Larry Dolby uh when it comes to varsity letters because Larry had opportunity not only to play baseball but he ran track also. So this is historical. Mayor, I commend you for putting this together. director uh uh Billy Rodriguez. This is amazing. I can
tell you this is something that I know we will make sure it's taken care of. And the one thing, David Ism, you don't have to worry about any calls in the morning about the field being out. So, we look forward to this being a great day. God bless Larry Doby. God bless Patterson. Thank you. So, as you can
see, we have an all-star lineup here. Our first two hitters, first two speakers, sort of like Francisco Lindor and Juan Sto without the money though. Right, Benji? I'm going to go a little out of order. We're gonna go the the third spot. I guess this would be Peter Lonzo because
he was alluded to earlier, a Patterson Allstar, the pride of East Side High School, the current athletic director. And we just today confirmed that East Side High School's first home game here will be a week from today on May 14th.
Ladies and gentlemen, gentleman who starred professionally in football, TJ Hill. Thank you, mayor. Um, first of all, it's a pleasure to be here. Um, to just be at this monument, just a beautiful stadium. I
want to piggy back on something that Mr. Reynolds said and also what Senator Wimblembley, I know him as Coach Wimbley, you guys know him as Senator Wimbley, that not only did we all know the history of Larry Doby and what he's done. So, Coach
Wimberly, he embraced that same legacy from generation to generation to generation from his generation past. When he was our baseball coach, we wore the number 42 on our hats. We represent so many Negro League players whether we wore sweatshirts, whether we wore
t-shirts, whether we did fundraisers and to this day at the generation generation generation. I'm just so happy to be a part of this. Not only that, he mentioned that you know Larry Dobby and I share some of the same athletic testaments me and my co friend I mean my friend Sean Cbrooks in the in the
letters is that I'm going to pass this down as long as I'm here in the pillar of East Side Athletics. I'm going to continue to pass down these generations and his history of not just Mr. Dolby, but everything he stood for, everybody came before him. So, with that being said, it's a pleasure to be here. Our baseball team will be taking the field
next Wednesday here, and we're going to keep this thing, keep this brand going. And like I said, it's a And not only that, it's a big win. It's a big city. It's a big win for the city of Patterson. So, not only for I want to give special thanks to the director of
recreation, director DPW, Mr. Billy Rodriguez. Give him applause one more time. Applause one more time. Mr. Wley, one more time. And also the mayor for putting his He's such a baseball guy. So because he's such a baseball guy, he does a little more for the baseball facilities than any other facilities. But anyway, thank you for having me and
it's a good one. Let's go. TJ Hill wanted me to tell you he's also a Mets fan. Thank you, TJ. You didn't want to say anything. There you go. Polar bear right there. Now, this doesn't happen without a total team effort. You know, we heard from our senator, but we have an assemblyman who
was on the city council who said, "We have to prioritize improving our public spaces, particularly our athletic fields." And the $116 million investment that we've made in seven years in improving parks and playgrounds and play
spaces started in the first ward with Buckleyfield. And Chamberlain Avenue is now become so vibrant because we complemented the new multi-purpose athletic field where you could play soccer, football, baseball, softball.
We've complemented it with a new playground and a new basketball court named for Essence Carson who starred at East Side High School as well. And let it be known there's a handball court as well. Billy wants me to always emphasize that. So ladies and gentlemen, our former 64th Councilman and our current
assemblyman, Al Abilaziz. Thank you, Mayor NMO. Let's I just hope everyone asks the mayor how many varsity letters he had in high school. That that'll be a good question. There was an L loser. Um today's a great day for the uh city of
Patterson and the state of New Jersey. When I was on the council alongside the mayor and many of my council colleagues that were on the council, we always wanted to make sure our students, our residents, our kids have the top uh facilities that play.
Larry Jr., your father's legacy, will never be forgotten, and he deserves to have his name on a state-of-the-art multi-million dollar facility. And today we're standing here and the job gets done because as our senator said, partnerships with the state of New
Jersey that invested $2.8 million to make sure that this field gets done. And I'm glad that I'm able to work with our senator to make sure we get these funds here in the city of Patterson. And every um child, every athlete that steps foot
on this field will always see Larry Doby's name because we should never forget that he is the bar. Every athlete that comes out of this city should know what Larry Dobby did. And Larry Jr. when
I went down to Trent, I met some people throughout the state of New Jersey and they said my grandfather, my father played with Larry Dolby. And we're talking about people from Camden, people from South Jersey, and the first person they mentioned was Larry Doby. And I'm
glad he to stand here today with the investment from the state of New Jersey that your father's legacy will never be forgotten. And hopefully many athletes will follow his footsteps. And thank you, mayor, for taking this vision,
director of DPW. We I remember in 2018 that midnight call when we said we got to get our fields done. and I'm happy to be able to cut the ribbon. God bless you all and your father's legs will never be forgotten. Thank you. You get an honorary letter. They said they gave me an honorary varsity letter.
I said my letter was L for loser back in high school. That's true. Sarah, I graduated last in my high school class, but we don't want to dwell on the past. We're here to focus on the future in this field. So, nevertheless, I I do also want to point out when we brought Hitchliff Stadium back to life, we also
have a Negro League Baseball museum. And it tells the story of that struggle for civil rights. It tells the story of 20 Hall of Famers who played at Hinchiff Stadium, denied that opportunity to play in the bigs, most of them, but have an opportunity now to be enshrined here in
the city of Patterson, so that when anybody ever visits Hinchless Stadium and goes to the museum, they learn about Cool Papa Bell, Josh Gibson, and of course, Larry Dobby. And there's a section reserved for number 14 as well. In addition to this field, we have made
millions of dollars of improvements to East Side Park, which is the crown jewel, Tony, of our park system. It's a flagship park. We've renovated the roller rink. The new playground, which is orange and blue, of course. We also have resurfaced all the roads, repaired
the sidewalk. We're focusing on the historic steps, restored the cricket clubhouse, and in the future, renovate little Larry Dolby field not too far from here. Also, the tennis courts, which are orange and blue. You see a theme here. But at this time, I want to thank someone who's representing us from
the county level who's helped invest through open space dollars the upgrades here at Eastside Park, and that is our county commissioner, Orlando Cruz. Yes. Yes, but do better than him. Thank you, mayor. Uh to all the dignitaries here and all uh that are present in this
uh really truly historic moment. Uh this is what we see when all of our levels of government come together working for one common goal uh which is investing in this particular case in our youth, our county, state, and our local uh working collectively to ensure that our youth
have a safe place for recreation, that our school programs have an opportunity to excel on a state-of-the-art field. Uh so I want to commend everyone who had a hand in putting this together. And obviously we're here to celebrate uh additionally the legacy of a man who uh
truly broke barriers and is a um an example to set to our youth that when you work hard and set your mind to something, you can really achieve any goal that's possible. So to Larry Dobby Jr., your father legacy lives on here. uh to the public works team that will be maintaining this field. I know there's a
sense of pride when you have something in front of you that you've invested in and that you want to make sure that it continues to stay in the shape that it is so that our youth don't have don't go a day without having a a field that they can be proud of. And so whenever all of our dollars come together, this is the
result. When I join Assemblyman Aldo Loziz and Senator Benji Wimberly in the state level, Mayor, we will continue to advocate for those dollars to return back to our hometown of the city of Patterson and continue to invest in youth programming uh so that our youth have all every opportunity uh to excel.
So, thank you very much. God bless you all. Thank you. Commissioner Cruz alluded to the fact that you have to have all levels of government working together. And when you have both branches of municipal government aligned and create synergy, this is what happens. I tell the members
of the municipal council at Nauseium, you share the vision, you share the victory. Today, you see the vision and you will see the victory as well. Council president, with your permission, I want to just call on the lady first because our next speaker went to East
Side High School. As a matter of fact, there's a famous film about East Side High School. I'm sure you've heard of it, Lean on Me. And you can't have that movie without two people, Morgan
Freeman and Marissa Davila. She was in a pivotal scene where he holds up a bat, fittingly enough, and says, "They used to call me Crazy Joe. Now they can call me Batman." Ladies and gentlemen, the young lady who made that
scene along with Morgan Freeman famous, our councilwoman at large and council president Amerida, proud mighty ghost from East Side High School and neighbor in this area, Marita Davila. You owe me lunch for that. Still looking
for owes me lunch for that one. Thank you so much, mayor, and thank you to everyone for being here today. I was not expecting and you know through protocol I do want to call my council president up. Come on council president come up here. We are a team. When we vote we
don't vote. Yes we have one individual vote but we are a body of one. All right. And although a lot of these things were being done through while I was council president, we have our council president here now, Alex Mendes, who's leading the way and assisting the council to make sure that we continue
the progress. And so I'm happy to be here today to see this come to fruition. It's been a long time waiting. I literally live right up the street. I come through here every single day before I go to work. And I just want to say thank you. Thank you for all of the
partners. And thank you. Thank you to our director of DPW because I know what it means to you. I know that overall public works, but when it comes to parks and recreation, you are number one. you know, as a parent understanding the necessity of having good facilities for
our children and also for our adults. Okay? And so to Mr. Larry Jr., thank you so much. We thank God, you know, for your father, okay? Because today we are able to celebrate on his behalf. So, thank you to our senator, to our assembly, uh to our county commissioners, and to every partner that
made this happen today. Mayor, thank you once again. Your council woman here to serve you, Marissa Davina. Thank you. Oh, and by the way, the only scene, the only part that I had in the movie in the movie was Yeah. Mr. Clark.
Told you it wouldn't have been famous without Marissa. No disrespect to Morgan Freeman, of course. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a council president who's chomping at the bit. This morning, he said in anticipation of this announcement, he bench pressed 700 lb with one arm. We call him the Incredible
Hulk, but thankfully his suits don't rip. Ladies and gentlemen, yes, it is. We love it. Our fashion plate of a council president who is advancing our agenda to improve our public spaces. Council President Alex Mendes. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Good
morning. God definitely gave us an amazing day today. It's the rain stop because we're making history. Talking about the legacy of Larry Dobby is talking about not only Pis history but American history. And this would not happen without the collaboration of the
city council and administration. I will speak on behalf of my entire council members of the great city of Patterson. We share the vision. We investing in our youth. We investing in the future. This is an amazing project. You hear before East Side Park is totally done. The only
thing that we need is to finish a little Larry Dobby and it will be on the agenda next week, mayor, to get it done. So, it's on the agenda. We on the way to finish all the entire East Side Park. We finished with the tennis court, state-of-the-art tennis court, the playground, beautiful, the rolling rig.
Now we got the legendary Larry Dobby totally renovate. I'm excited to be here in front of you. Let's continue the work, the collaboration among the state, county, and local level because without partnership, we're not going to be able to move forward. This is a clear example
of putting politics aside and concentrate on the city of Patterson, improving our community. May God bless the city of Paris and may God bless the history of our great Larry Doby. Thank you so very much. Thank you. I told you he bench press 700 lb. He's
going to do a thousand later. I want to acknowledge our corporation council who knows a little bit about sports, played football and college for forom. Aean Abushi, thank you law director for joining us. Our road inspector Anthony Fazinga. I want to acknowledge him because right
now there's about like 10 streets that are getting repaved in the east side section and also in the first ward right off of Chamberlain Avenue. So, we're happy about that, too. We're probably more happy. Well, no, we're This is the pride right here at this time. We also want to acknowledge former president of
the board of education, Mr. Manny Martinez. Thank you, Manny, for joining us and you got the best hat on. Right now, let's hear from someone who lives right up the hill that walked here. Our deputy mayor, a proud, an MVP, a most
valuable Pattersonian, Eli Bergos. A real honor and pleasure to be here today amongst these giants. Of course, uh they call me the baby giant. I don't know why, but I have to wear a hat so you can see me. Uh, but I played a lot of ball in this park. Uh, ran leagues in
this park. Um, you know, we used to be able to um get all these permits as independent leagues to be able to play. And we used to have um an individual by the name of New Info who was a legend here in terms of running the department
of recreation. Uh, and only a person like our senator Benji Wimbley, our director, could surpass that huge legacy that he left behind. So, Benji, uh, you fill those shoes easily. But to all of you that are here today to see this inaugural, um, I sat right here
alongside outgoing mayor Marty Marty Barnes, incoming mayor Joey Torres, and of course, uh, our present mayor was here at the time as well and, uh, when the field was initially inaugurated. So, there's a lot of memories here. my bag full of equipment was left right here
because somebody in DPW called me to play a a scrimmage game and I did and I pulled a muscle and a young man that was sitting in the corner got the benefit of receiving my bag full of equipment to continue playing ball here in these parks. So, mayor, thank you very much.
uh no combination of mayors that I can recall, not only in the years that I was with the administration, but in all the years prior has invested more and this city council with their help, with the help of the state and of course the county
has invested more money in the children and the youth of Patterson in our parks than the current mayor. So, I take my hat off to him, mayor, uh, because you have done the job and you've done it well and we're very proud and Patterson is very proud. Thank you very much. That was very nice.
I appreciate that, Eli. You'll speak at every press conference going forward. Now, we only have a few more speakers and you heard about him earlier. And I want to talk about passion. The passion that this young man has for Parks, the passion that this man has for our youth,
the passion that this man has for taking my phone calls every day to ask about the status of projects like this one. And he takes the call. Sometimes it goes to voicemail, but I'll text him and say, "Call me right away." He knows what it's about. But ladies and gentlemen, he is dedicated to the recreational
renaissance that is taking place in the city of Patterson. Put your hands together for the director of the Department of Public Works. And this one's for you, Anthony Johnson, Brian Dable's Doppelganger, Billy Rodriguez. Thank you, Mayor. I had to do it. Thank
you, Mayor. Mayor, I appreciate you still having, you know, the uh confidence in me and doing these uh projects. This is uh this is our flagship project. This is this is what it's about, mayor. Giving this field back to to the citizens of Patterson, the the way it came out. Um, I'd like to
thank our partners in it. Um, Austin, we got Lee Lee somewhere. Lee's over here. Bobby, um, Bobby, uh, Zola from Musco Lighting, do lighting to be in next week. But that's what it's about. Giving these fields back, these play areas back to the kids of Patterson so they can get off the streets. They have somewhere
safe to to be. This park has to be safe. It's it's our flagship park. We need everybody to come here and enjoy themselves. Families come play some competitive games. We got we needed the fill because DJ was bothering me every night about flooding about the stands. So we had to make DJ happy and we had to
give it back on this day because today is DJ's birthday. Everybody DJ it's his birthday today. So happy birthday. This a present for you my man to be to to Nelson everybody that to Ralphie to TJ everybody that's going to be having their teams out here competing. I just like to say thank you mayor. Appreciate
it. Another round of applause for director Rodriguez coach Dable. So DJ, we uh unfortunately, well, I can tell you that the reason why we scheduled for today is because we want to celebrate your birthday. I just didn't get a fudgy the whale ice cream cake from Carell.
Sorry about that. You got a brand new feel for your birthday. There you go. It doesn't get better than that. Yeah, there you go. Right there. Two more speakers. You heard Billy allude to the individuals that made this possible as far as on the transformation side. So, for a few
words, we want to hear from Austin, who's always eager to speak at any of my announcements at Ribbon Cutting for New Fields in Patterson. Austin, thank you. Thank you, Austin. First, I just want to say thank you to everybody who was involved to making
this happen. Uh we stand here proudly from city leaders to local families to mark this major milestone for Patterson. Um this moment is more than just a field. It's about the community. It's about teamwork and it's about
giving creating a space for the youth to um to grow to dream and to make memories that will last a lifetime. This field represents opportunities and opportunities is what we as a team continue to provide to this
community. So again, I want to say thank you. It's always a pleasure coming out here being able to say a few words, see everybody smiling, all the excitement about a new field that comes to the town. So, thank you to the mayor. Thank you to everybody involved. Thanks. Very
well done. I also want to acknowledge the president of the Friends of Patterson Parks, a nonprofit organization that we created so we could raise money to improve our parks and invest in our youth. Fred Artist, thank you for joining us as well. Last, but certainly not
least, there was two things we needed to host this ribbon cutting today. Beautiful weather and Larry Dobby Jr. Ladies and gentlemen, by the grace of God, we got this weather today and we got Larry
Dobby Jr. to join us. Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for the son of Larry Doby senior. Larry Dobby Jr. First of all, I'd like to thank everybody that made this possible. It's a wonderful tribute to my dad and
uh it's hard to believe Benji. It was over 20 years ago that we were here and actually dedicating the field for the first time. But the reason why it's important is because Patterson was a magical city to him and my mother growing up. He met my mother at Eastside High School, married and have five
children. we all were born in Patterson hospitals and the the coaches and the teachers that took an interest in him enabled him to achieve the things that you guys honor him for today. So, it was always important to him that the youth had a place to play, that they would go
to school and educate themselves and become better citizens. And I I can't think of a better thing that would make him happy than knowing that people were going to get the same opportunities to play on fields like this that, you know, he had as a kid and hopefully, you know, go to college or maybe make it even to
the pros one day. So, it happened because people in Patterson didn't forget my father and my father didn't forget Patterson. So, I thank you guys and uh hopefully uh this will be the start of a great season for the East Side G. Yes. Yes. Thank you.
There are two places in the United States that have statues to pay tribute to Larry Doby. Cleveland and Patterson, New Jersey. In fact, one of my favorite stories amongst the many that I know of Larry was the fact that he hit the first
home run. The first African-American to hit a home run in the World Series was Larry Doby to win. There's a famous picture of Larry Doby hugging Steve Grock the picture which at that time unfortunately created so much
controversy. But when you go to our new museum and you see it, it'll inspire you and it'll actually have you appreciate his struggle more knowing at that time he was criticized for taking that picture. But today I want everybody to take a picture and see for
yourselves the gentleman who was instrumental in integrating baseball in the American League. And to him, our tribute to his legacy is producing a field of dreams, but also a
field of destiny. His destiny was to be legendary. That's why we call him Larry Legend. Many destinies will be written here and hopefully anyone that plays on
his field will follow in his legendary footsteps. Thank you very much DPW. Thank you. Let's move this podium so we can cut the ribbon on the new and improved Larry Toby Field. Yes. Fab
Razic. Everybody come on. Everybody join us. Sandy Mack. Let's go. W. Take me out. Take me out with the crowd. Buy me some peanuts and cracker
jacks. I don't care if I ever get back for it. Red fruit for the home. If they don't win, it's a shame.