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Bay Sox Welcome New Team President & Treasurer

October 27, 2011 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
New Bedford Bay Sox News Release


It is with tremendous excitement that we formally announce the newest member of the Bay Sox family. Pat and Beth O'Connor have joined us in our efforts to bring quality community based baseball to New Bedford. The Bay Sox Foundation Board of Directors voted unanimously to approve the appointment of Pat O'Connor and Beth O'Connor to the Board earlier this month.

This is a great day for the Bay Sox as Pat and Beth have years of experience matching and marrying athletics with community, building a sense of pride and loyalty and ultimately bringing financial stability and success to organizations. They will both join our Board of Directors; Pat will assume the responsibilities as President and Beth with become our Treasurer effective immediately. The rest of our Board of Directors will remain the same; excited, committed and steadfast. These changes will now enable us to better expand our reach, leverage our individual strengths and increase our presence in the community-at-large.

We thought that we would tell you a little bit about the two of them. For the past 30 years Pat has been an executive with IBM, he and his wife Beth, an educator of 30 years, have lived in Vermont and during that time they have raised 3 grown and very successful student/athletes who have ultimately become equally successful professionals. Pat and Beth have spent countless hours immersed within their community developing philanthropic activities so they could give back.

10 years ago, Pat's brainchild "Little Fenway" was born www.littlefenway.com. Shortly thereafter "Little Wrigley" came along and he and Beth have grown this endeavor to a mutli-million dollar philanthropic entity all with the goal of giving back to society. They have been able to donate more than $1.2M to the Travis Roy Foundation, have partnered with the JDRF, Breast Cancer, Heart Association, and many other locally-based organizations and donated tens of thousands of dollars to fight the causes. Pat has been able to transform the game of wiffle ball into a vehicle not only for family fun and entertainment but for community responsibility.

Pat's organization in Vermont matches and mirrors the Bay Sox operation in New Bedford, right down to the admissions, merchandise, sponsorships and concessions. In addition to overseeing the philanthropic organization, Pat has also authored 2 books (Little Fenway & Green Mountain Boys of Summer) and numerous articles on the sport of baseball . He has been featured on Chronicle, in Sports Illustrated and many, many, many other media venues over the years. "He is a solid guy - one of the good ones".

Pat has deep rooted relationships within the Major League Baseball community and most definitely within the Red Sox organization. Pat has been instrumental in building a partnership with the Yawkey Foundation over the years and he has befriended former Red Sox greats; Bill Lee, Bill Buckner and Rick Miller to name a few. Outside of the limelight of MLB Pat and Beth have also made it their life's effort to be there for the "average Joe", they have a personal relationship with Travis Roy and others like Travis . They look to bring Travis and the "people like Travis" into the fold in New Bedford to drive exposure of the team and more importantly exposure to the "cause".

The Bay Sox Foundation hopes to leverage their experience of building a solid staple within a community here in New Bedford. Pat and Beth plan to move to the SouthCoast for the summer months to assist with the daily operations of the Bay Sox where we hope to expand on the success they have experienced in Vermont and evolve the Bay Sox to our next big "community thing" in the Southcoast. At some point after his retirement, they plan to relocate south year-round.

Rita and I have been so fortunate to have gotten to know Pat and Beth not just as community minded individuals but as people - they are salt of the earth - they are genuine - the real deal! Being an executive with IBM, Pat brings numerous executive level connections throughout the business community and he intends to tap into those to help us drive funding for the Bay Sox Foundation. In his non-profit work he has also managed to reach into organizations who set aside dollars to fund efforts like the Bay Sox. What he found of most interest was the fact that we are a community based, board run, not-for-profit organization focused 100% on giving back. That philosophy lined up perfectly with he and Beth's personal philosophy. They are about leveraging their personal success for a greater good.

We hope to see you all on Opening Day and along the way so you can welcome Pat and Beth yourself.

Robin Wadsworth & Rita Hubner

The Bay Sox Foundation

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