After signing a Minor League contract with the Yankees, Hank's Yanks star pitcher Leonel Vinas visited children at P.S. 304 in the Bronx to talk about Hopes and Dreams. His next stop was the Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club, where a $5,000 donation in his name was presented by movie producer Alfred Zaccagnino, currently in pre-production of "Keeper of the Pinstripes." based on Ray Negron's children's book series that's set for release in 2012.
Vinas may be considered a longshot to eventually play for the Yankees, but that's nothing new to this young man who like his Hank's Yanks teammates took full advantage of an opportunity afforded to them by Hank Steinbrenner to turn their lives around through baseball. Vinas and two other minority kids near Garden City, N.Y., had to plow through a road block in 2004. The Garden City Bombers Baseball program was vigorously opposed by some in the community and it took a major federal lawsuit to protect and save the program, and allow Vinas and his two cousins to play. Today that program is now part of the Major League Baseball RBI program -- Garden City as its Long Island hub -- and serves more than 120 kids.
I read something pretty cool over Twitter the other day: one fan's dream of Vinas starting and winning a game closed by Mariano Rivera Jr. You never know.
Happy New Year.
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