34 The Great Neck News, Friday, April 22, 2022
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Pitching duo lead Chaminade in championship bid Continued from Page 3 April 6 a particular highlight. Both Gatti and Downing attribute a lot of their improvement over the past year to playing offseason ball with Next Level Baseball, an amateur program based in Farmingdale that helps develop lots of top Long Island talent.
“It was just a big boost to me to play with all the talented kids that go there,” said Gatti, who chose Dayton over Villanova and Sacred Heart. “You play tournaments with top players and coaches who just do so much for you.” Downing said he and Gatti are both motivated to repeat as CHSAA champions, and go further this year. After two COVIDaffected seasons, there will be the chance for Chaminade to play
for a state championship this year. With 13 other college signees on the squad, the Flyers certainly have a great chance. “We have a lot of talented guys who’ve played together for a while and we want to go out on top,” Downing said. “We all have confidence we can do it.”
Hakimi challeges Peirez E.W. sportswriter Bock for school board book honored by mag Continued from Page 1 agendas” in the district over the past year. “Students of every caliber, whether in advanced courses, general education, or special education deserve a path to success,” Hakimi said. “We should be grooming the next generation of doctors, lawyers, educators, and entrepreneurs, not social justice warriors.” Hakimi also called for transparency among the board to properly inform district stakeholders about what is occurring throughout the schools and said he can offer an “on the ground perspective to administrative policies.” He also noted the increased tension at recent Board of PHOTO COURTESY OF THE GREAT NECK SCHOOL Education meetings, saying he will help mitigate conflict between administrators and parents if DISTRICT elected. “Recent School Board meetings have be- Great Neck Board of Education Trustee come increasingly hostile and contentious, causDonna Peirez is running for re-election ing a rift within our wonderful community,” Hakimi said. “If elected, I will bridge the disconnect against challenger Emil Hakimi. between parents and the schools. I recognize the The election will also include a $261.4 milneed for parental involvement in a child’s education, as well as the need for transparency from lion budget for the 2022-23 school year that the board adopted earlier this month. the administration and the faculty.”
Continued from Page 2 azine. The venerable publication published a list several weeks ago of the Top 100 Baseball Books ever written, and the Mullin collection was among them. “I was flaggergasted, stunned and thrilled,” said Bock, who retired from full-time sportswriting in 2004. “The books on that list are incredible, so to be included among that, is very exciting. I think Mullin would be thrilled too.” Bock said the book shows Mullin’s whimsical sense of humor. “One of the interesting things about him, a brilliant thing, was he would sign every cartoon with 26 pen strokes, and all but two were horizontal,” Bock said. “I don’t know how he did that, but it was unique.” Baseball has fallen behind football and basketball in popularity in the U.S., but Bock said
he hasn’t lost his passion for it. “I don’t like them putting that runner on second base in extra innings, and about 100 other things they’ve done to baseball over the years,” Bock said. “They shouldn’t tinker with the sport. But I still absolutely love it. I watched a few innings of the Mets game today, and just the whole package of baseball, the green grass, the players, all of it, is still so wonderful to me.” Bock keeps busy these days writing a few times per week for New York SportsDay, and still does presentations from time to time over Zoom. “I love that I can still feed my passion for baseball, and sports,” Bock said. “People have asked why do you still write. I say it’s because that’s what I like doing the most. The experience of sitting down in front of a computer and writing, I still love it.”
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