Connor Eller Receives Blue Jays Community Service Award

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Right-handed pitcher Connor Eller has been selected as the 2018 Dunedin Blue Jays Community Service Award winner for his continued commitment to helping those in need in the Dunedin community and supporting Blue Jays community initiatives.

The Blue Jays Community Service Award has been given annually since 2012 to the Blue Jays player who best exemplifies the team’s commitment to enriching the Dunedin community through a variety of outreach programs that promote education, healthy lifestyles, and charity. Throughout the 2018 season, Eller represented the Blue Jays in the community through numerous appearances away from the ballpark as he worked to encourage local children and support local families.

“Connor has been a leader in the clubhouse and the community for the past two seasons. He’s exemplified everything this award stands for through his continued dedication to our community service projects,” Blue Jays Manager of Community Relations Kathi Beckman said. “We couldn’t be more proud to present him with the 2018 Community Service Award.”

Eller helped lead the 2018 Blue Jays Bookin’ It To The Ballpark Reading Program, the largest community outreach program in the franchise’s history, reaching fifteen-hundred elementary school students in 19 Pinellas County schools. He visited local elementary schools to support the program and promote literacy by reading to local students, answering their questions, and encouraging them in their studies.

“My favorite event was definitely the reading visits,” Eller said. “The kids get so excited when you walk in the door. Seeing their smiles when they come up and read with you is a joy.”

Eller was also active at the 2018 Blue Jays Bowling Tournament, an event that raised over $10,000 to benefit local families through Ronald McDonald House Charities of Tampa Bay. He also volunteered to help local families at the Dunedin Cares, Inc. Food Pantry, helping to fight hunger in the Dunedin Community. At their annual Hometown USA celebration, the Blue Jays collected 1,126 pounds of food for Dunedin Cares, Inc. as part of Minor League Baseball’s annual BUSH’s Beans Food Drive. Alongside teammate Riley Adams and mascot DJay, Eller helped sort and distribute the food the team had collected to local families.

“It was really neat when Riley and I went to the Food Pantry. I think we gave back to the community in a different way. It was heartwarming to put yourself in other people’s situation and be able to help them and show love to them.”

Eller joins a distinguished list of former Community Service Award winners that includes Danny Barnes, Matt Newman, Taylor Cole, L.B. Dantzler, Jorge Saez, Tim Mayza, and Josh DeGraaf.

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.

Blue Jays Minor’s Top Contributor In “Team Up Against Hunger” Food Drive

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Minor League Baseball and BUSH’s Beans announced on Tuesday that the Dunedin Blue Jays were the top contributing team in the “Team Up Against Hunger” July food drive initiative. Blue Jays fans donated 1,126 pounds of non-perishable food items at Dunedin’s annual Hometown USA celebration, the largest donation of nearly 80 participating Minor League teams from across the country. In recognition of the generosity of Dunedin fans, BUSH’s Beans and MiLB Charities will match the Blue Jays’ donation to the Dunedin Cares, Inc. Food Pantry to help local families in need in Pinellas County.

Over five tons of food was collected during the 2018 food drive throughout the Minor Leagues, which will help provide over 9,000 meals to families in need in 35 states. The food items donated by Blue Jays fans and the matching donation from BUSH’s Beans/MiLB Charities will go to Dunedin Cares, Inc., a local food pantry that has distributed over 85,000 pounds of food to over 6,500 local residents since 2015.

Blue Jays staff, mascot DJay, and players Riley Adams and Connor Eller visited the Dunedin Cares, Inc. Food Pantry to deliver the team’s donation and help sort and distribute the food to local families in late July. At the Blue Jays July 3rd Hometown USA event, $595 was raised for Dunedin Cares through an in-game 50/50 raffle in addition to the donation of non-perishable food items.

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.

Blue Jays Bowling Tournament Raises Over $10,000

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DUNEDIN-FL, The Dunedin Blue Jays 2018 Charity Bowling Tournament on Saturday, July 21st raised $10,370 for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Tampa Bay. Over 200 local baseball fans participated in the event, joining the entire Dunedin Blue Jays team at Maple Lanes Countryside Bowling Alley in Clearwater for a day of bowling, raffles, silent auctions, and prizes during the team’s fifth annual tournament. Since 2014, the event has raised over $45,000 to support the well-being of local families through Ronald McDonald House Charities.

“The Blue Jays are incredibly grateful for the continued support of local businesses and their sponsorships that make this event possible each year, for our players for dedicating their time to helping the local community, and most of all for fans who helped make this year’s event a success,” Kathi Beckman, the Blue Jays Manager of Community Relations, said following the event.

For the third consecutive year, the event raised over $10,000 to help Ronald McDonald House Charities of Tampa Bay care for families with children receiving treatment in local hospitals. Adding to the excitement at the tournament, local fan Teddy K. threw the first perfect 300 game in bowling tournament history. For his feat, Teddy was awarded a team-signed bowling ball and pin and the opportunity to throw out the first pitch at a 2019 Toronto Blue Jays Spring Training game.

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.

Learn From The Pros At Blue Jays Baseball Camp

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Looking for a great baseball camp experience for your child? Look no further than your hometown Dunedin Blue Jays Summer Baseball Camp. The camp features four mornings of professional instruction from Blue Jays coaches and players, and will feature expert instruction in fielding, throwing, batting, and base running. Lunch will be provided for all attending each day.

Dates: Monday, July 9 – Thursday, July 12
Time: 9 AM – 12 PM (Lunch served until 12:30
Ages: 6-16
Location: Dunedin Stadium
Cost: $115 per camper ($100 with Jr. Jays Membership)

More information and sign-up

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.

Registration Open For Annual Charity Bowling Tournament

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Registration is officially open for the fifth annual Dunedin Blue Jays Charity Bowling Tournament to benefit Ronald McDonald House Charities of Tampa Bay held on Saturday, July 21st at Maple Lanes Countryside. Last year’s tournament raised over $12,800 to help local families in need through Ronald McDonald House Charities of Tampa Bay, a total the Blue Jays hope to eclipse in 2018.

The tournament will offer fans and participants the opportunity to bowl with and meet and greet their favorite Dunedin Blue Jays players and coaches, the chance to take home great Blue Jays memorabilia in a raffle and silent auction, and chances to win autographed merchandise, gift certificates, art, and other prizes throughout the event all while supporting a great cause.

Participation in the tournament costs $25 per bowler and includes two games of bowling, shoe rental, food and drink, a ticket to attend that evening’s Dunedin Blue Jays game, and a special participation gift. Individual bowlers and full teams of six are welcome to register. All proceeds from the tournament will be donated to Ronald McDonald House Charities of Tampa Bay.

Interested bowlers can find out more information and register for the tournament by visiting www.DunedinBlueJays.com/Bowling. Local businesses interested in being a lane sponsor at the event and having their logo and advertising displayed at the event can visit the same link or contact the Blue Jays at (727)-733-9302 for more information.

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.

Local Students Read For Over 290,000 Minutes During Reading Program

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A record 19 local elementary schools participated in the eighth annual Dunedin Blue Jays Bookin’ It To The Ballpark Reading Program sponsored by TD Bank in 2018. Recognizing literacy as a key skill necessary for academic achievement, the Blue Jays have encouraged and rewarded local students for reading with their annual reading program since 2011. This year, over 1,500 elementary school students across Pinellas County combined to read for 296,383 minutes during the six-week program. In hours, those totals would equal 4,940 hours of reading or over 205 full days spent reading by local students.

The Blue Jays visited all 19 schools during the course of the program, bringing players and their mascot DJay to encourage students. Dunedin players read to and with the students, answered questions from students and teachers, shared their experiences on and off the field, and gave advice on school and sports.

Participating students tracked their reading on baseball-themed bookmarks provided by the Blue Jays, advancing around the bases of a baseball diamond as they read outside of class to score runs for their class. Students who scored two runs for the class by reading 20 minutes at home eight times were rewarded with a ticket voucher to attend a Dunedin Blue Jays game. At the end of the program, the Blue Jays returned with pizza and a classroom library donation for the class that read the most in each school. Of the 19 participating schools, students at Curtis Fundamental Elementary (56,363 minutes) and Lake St. George Elementary (36,920 minutes) read for the most total minutes.

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.

Jays Donate Equipment To Youth In Nicaragua

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The Blue Jays were in a hurry following their Florida State League North Division Championship victory over the Tampa Yankees in early September. Hurricane Irma was bearing down on Florida, forcing the FSL to cancel it’s championship series and cram the final two games of the North Division championship into a doubleheader, and most of the team was set to be shuttled to the airport as soon as they got their bags packed following Dunedin’s title win.

Despite their tight schedule and the emotions piling up in the room, the euphoria from having just won a championship, the anxiety from the impending hurricane, and the sadness always found at the end of a long season bidding farewell to teammates and friends, the 2017 Dunedin Blue Jays team united for one final community service project before they parted ways.

The team pulled a large cardboard box into the clubhouse and began filling it with their equipment. When it overflowed with cleats, bats, hats, batting gloves, and other gear, they grabbed a second box to hold even more equipment to be donated to youth baseball players in need.

This past week, the Blue Jays equipment was transported to Nicaragua and distributed to youth baseball players and teams.

Despite baseball being the national sport of the Central American country, civil war, natural disasters, and poverty have created conditions that make it difficult for young ballplayers to access the basic equipment needed to play the game at a high level. Only fourteen Nicaraguans have ever played in the Major Leagues and just three appeared in an MLB game during the 2017 season. With three quarters of the country living on less than $2 per day, sports equipment is simply too expensive for most families.

Partnering with the non-profit Helping Kids Round First and the St. Petersburg College baseball team, the Blue Jays helped make it possible for children in the impoverished Somotillo and Somoto regions of northern Nicaragua and young athletes in the city of Rivas to play the game of baseball. Players ranging in ages from 5 to 16 were provided with gloves, bats, hats, batting gloves, baseballs, cleats, and catching gear, many receiving those items for the first time in their lives.

In northern Nicaragua, the equipment was delivered in small communities of subsistence farmers where highly competitive youth baseball leagues are played on livestock grazing land between villages. Too excited to even wait for the pastures to be cleared of animals to play, bullpen sessions broke out next to bean fields outside of the farmers’ houses.

When volunteers arrived in Rivas, the team chosen to receive equipment was in the middle of a sandlot game with two dirt-blackened baseballs and a single hand-made wooden bat. Players on both sides shared fielding gloves. Within minutes of receiving their new equipment, the ballplayers had returned to the field, too anxious to try out their new gloves and bats to be herded together for a photo.

For many players, Dunedin is a step on the path to a Major League career. Thanks to the generosity of the 2017 Blue Jays players, Dunedin has helped young baseball players in Nicaragua take the first step towards a career in baseball that otherwise would not have been possible.

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.

DeGraaf Wins Jays Community Service Award

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Dunedin Blue Jays starting pitcher Josh DeGraaf had a memorable season on the field, establishing himself as Dunedin’s ace in the second half and helping to pitch the team to a share of the Florida State League’s Championship. While his impact was great between the white lines, DeGraaf made many more memories for members of our local Dunedin community off the field. For his continued efforts to support the local community, DeGraaf was recently honored as the Blue Jays 2017 Community Service Award winner.

The Blue Jays Community Service Award has been given annually since 2012 to the Blue Jays player who best exemplifies the team’s commitment to enriching the Dunedin community through a variety of outreach programs that promote education, healthy lifestyles, and charity. Throughout the 2017 season, DeGraaf represented the Blue Jays in the community through numerous appearances away from the ballpark, supporting and encouraging local children, students, and families.

“We could always count on Josh. Hands down, no one was more eager to participate and help out throughout the season,” Blue Jays Community Relations Manager Kathi Beckman said about DeGraaf. “He was a leader and an advocate for our programs in the clubhouse all year. He was so personable with fans and the community and was an absolute natural with children and students.”

DeGraaf helped lead the 2017 Blue Jays Bookin’ It To The Ballpark Reading Program, the largest community outreach progam in the franchise’s history, reaching five hundred elementary school students in 14 Pinellas County schools. DeGraaf visited local elementary schools to support the program and promote literacy, reading to local students, answering their questions, and encouraging them in their studies. Over the course of the six-week program, local students read for 146,035 minutes, over 101 full days of reading.

DeGraaf was also active at the 2017 Blue Jays Bowling Tournament, an event that raised $12,820 for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Tampa Bay. Prior to the event, he volunteered to paint pottery to be raffled at the event and then helped raise nearly $1000 selling raffle tickets to fans at the event.

DeGraaf also took to the shopping mall to help out local families, participating in the Blue Jays Here We Grow and Toys For Tots Shopping Drives. During the Here We Grow Shopping Spree, he helped purchase school supplies and clothing for local students in need. During the Toys For Tots drive, he joined teammate Ryan Cook in selecting $1000 worth of toys and presents to be given to local children during the upcoming holiday season.

Reflecting on the myriad of events he participated in throughout the year, DeGraaf noted the time he spent with local students during the Reading Program as particularly memorable.

“I loved the kids’ questions. They always had really funny questions and sometimes very surprisingly good questions about baseball, about reading, and about life. It was fun hearing those and laughing with them. They may have been early mornings, but I enjoy working with kids.”

DeGraaf joins an impressive list of past Dunedin Blue Jays Community Service Award winners.

2012: Danny Barnes
2013: Matt Newman
2014: Taylor Cole
2015: L.B. Dantzler and Jorge Saez
2016: Tim Mayza

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.

Blue Jays Bowling Tournament Raises $12,820

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DUNEDIN-FL, The Dunedin Blue Jays 2017 Charity Bowling Tournament sponsored by Achieva Credit Union raised $12,820 for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Tampa Bay. 250 local baseball fans participated in the event, joining the entire Dunedin Blue Jays team at Maple Lanes Countryside Bowling Alley in Clearwater for a day of bowling, raffles, silent auctions, and prizes during the team’s fourth annual tournament. Since 2014, the event has raised over $35,000 to support the well-being of local families through Ronald McDonald House Charities.

“The Blue Jays are incredibly grateful for the support of Achieva and the many other sponsors of the event, our players for dedicating their time to helping the local community, and most of all for the two hundred and fifty fans who helped make this year’s event a success,” Kathi Beckman, the Blue Jays Manager of Community Relations, said following the event.

This year’s event set a new record for total dollars raised, surpassing the $11,339 raised during the team’s 2016 bowling tournament. Over $4,500 of the final $12,820 total was raised by the participants of the bowling tournament, each contributing $25 for two games of bowling, a catered lunch, and the opportunity to meet and greet the Blue Jays team. 40 local businesses from the Dunedin area contributed as Lane Sponsors at the event, raising $4000 of the total. The event’s silent auction, which included packages donated by local businesses as well as apparel and memorabilia donated by teams throughout the Toronto organization, raised over $2,400. A 50/50 raffle and Opportunity To Win raffles combined to raise just under $1000.

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.

Blue Jays honor Taylor Cole & Stubby Clapp

RHP gets commmunity service award, hitting coach wins Mattick

Dunedin-Blue-Jays-2014The Toronto Blue Jays announced their organizational award winners earlier today, and Dunedin’s RHP Taylor Cole and Hitting Coach Stubby Clapp each received tremendous honors. Cole has been named the winner of the Community Service Award, and Clapp will receive the Bobby Mattick Award for excellence in player development.

RHP Taylor Cole has been named this year’s winner of the Community Service Award. The 25 year-old right-hander was exceptionally active in the Blue Jays initiative programs serving youth. Among the programs Taylor participated in were the team’s annual Bookin’ it to the Ballpark reading program and summer Kickball Tour: a health and wellness initiative promoting an active lifestyle among kids of all ages at various summer camps. Additionally, Taylor led a group of teammates in a “Toys for Tots” shopping spree in support of the non-profit organization. Warm-hearted and selfless in his volunteerism, Taylor was always willing to answer a litany of questions from kids in an earnest manner, and took the extra time to sign last minute autographs in the classroom, at the ballpark and wherever fans could be found. In his words, “It’s our responsibility to give back, as so many have done for us.” On the diamond, Cole led all of minor league baseball with 171 strikeouts this past season.

Stubby Clapp is being recognized as this year’s recipient of the Bobby Mattick Award for excellence in Player Development. Born in Windsor, Ontario, Stubby has spent the last two seasons as the Hitting Coach in Dunedin (A). A member of Canada’s 1999 Pan American Games team, 2004 Canada Olympic team and 2006 World Baseball Classic club, Clapp spent 11 seasons playing professionally, including 23 games for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2001. Clapp started his coaching career in 2008 in the Astros system, highlighted by a division crown with Tri City (A) serving as the teams Manager. Stubby was influential in the development of several key Blue Jays farmhands over the past two seasons and his dedication each and every day makes the award richly deserved. During the past season alone, C Derrick Chung, SS Jorge Flores, 1B K.C. Hobson, 3B Gustavo Pierre, RF Matt Newman and CF Dalton Pompey all earned promotions to Double-A and beyond after working with Clapp in Dunedin.

This article originally appeared on the official website of the Dunedin Blue Jays. Click here to view the original story.

Andrew Fisher wins FSL scholarship

$1,500 will support his education at Florida State University

Andrew Fisher (left) is presented with his scholarship award by AGM Janette Donoghue. (Kyra Hallett)
Andrew Fisher (left) is presented with his scholarship award by AGM Janette Donoghue. (Kyra Hallett)

Dunedin, FL – The Florida State League Scholarship Committee awarded twelve $1,500 educational scholarships to applicants from each team in the league, and after reviewing dozens of applications, intern Andrew Fisher was selected as the recipient for the Dunedin Blue Jays.

Fisher is a double major at Florida State University, where he studies Statistics and Sports Management. In a world of competitive job markets and rising tuition prices, he could not be more grateful for the financial support.

“The scholarship is going to help me tremendously to get through college and propel me into a career, hopefully in sports,” Fisher said, shortly after throwing out the first pitch of Thursday night’s Blue Jays game.

D-Jays Assistant General Manager Janette Donoghue presented Fisher with a check in front of hundreds of fans at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium. It was a well-deserved honor, considering Fisher’s contributions during the 2013 season.

With his nose to the grindstone, Andrew helped put together Dunedin’s All-Star Weekend, including his unforgettable team of ball-shaggers during the home run derby, and brought a consistent attitude of comitment and determination to the workplace.

“I’ve loved my time in Dunedin,” Fisher reflected. “I’ve learned a lot and built valuable relationships with some tremendous people.”

The Miami Marlins have sponsored this program for fourteen (14) years and have contributed a total of $136,500. Florida State League President Chuck Murphy stated, “this program is one of the best things we do in the League and I congratulate the Directors and General Managers on their dedication and enthusiasm in administering this program.”

The purpose of the program is to send a message that an education is key to success in life.

The scholarship winners will be guests of the Miami Marlins in pre-game ceremonies on Sunday, August 18, 2013 at 1:10 PM.

This article originally appeared on the official website of the Dunedin Blue Jays. Click here to view the original story.