Tickets on Sale for October 22 Newport Gulls Hall Of Fame Induction
September 28, 2016 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Newport Gulls News Release
NEWPORT, R.I. - Tickets are on sale now for the Newport Gulls Hall of Fame Dinner and Auction, set for Saturday, October 22 at the Hyatt Regency Newport. The organization is honoring five popular Gulls alumni and one long-time volunteer, while also raising funds to support team operations with a silent auction featuring sports memorabilia and over 100 items donated by local businesses.
In addition to the silent auction, the event includes a formal dinner and video tributes for each inductee. The evening begins at 6 p.m. with a cocktail reception, followed by the ceremony at 7 p.m. in the Hyatt's Grand Ballroom. Tickets are $60 each, and $600 for a table of 10, and can be purchased at www.newportgulls.com or by contacting Nick Lima, director of baseball operations, at 401-845-6832 or operations@newportgulls.com.
The Fourth Class of the Hall of Fame will include two stars from the inaugural 2001 team, outfielder Billy Graiser and first baseman Michael Bohlander, in addition to 2004 and 2005 shortstop Michael Affronti. Stephen Peterson, a left-handed pitcher who played three seasons in Newport in 2007, 2008, and 2009, and Mike Melillo, Newport's catcher in 2008 and 2009, round out the player class.
All five players appeared in the NECBL Championship Series in each of their seasons with the Gulls, and all five helped bring home a Fay Vincent Sr. Cup (2001, 2005, and 2009). A sixth inductee, Al Weisman, has witnessed every moment of that history from his seat in the Cardines Field press box, as the Gulls volunteer scoreboard operator from 2001-present.
The Newport Gulls, members of the 13-team New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL), are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, founded as the Rhode Island Gulls in 1998 in Cranston, R.I., before moving to Newport in 2001. In addition to recruiting, fielding, and developing a team of the nation's top collegiate baseball athletes and attracting 50,000 fans annually to Cardines Field, the predominantly volunteer organization strives to benefit the youth of Newport County via summer camps, reading programs, fundraisers, scholarships, and charitable donations - totaling over $1 million since 2001. The Gulls are six-time champions of the NECBL - the winningest franchise in league history - and were ranked as the overall No. 1 summer collegiate baseball team in the country by Perfect Game USA in 2012.
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