Red Sox pitcher helps out Brooklyn youth league that made him a pro
Ottavino grew up in shadow of Prospect Park
When the Brooklyn-based 78 Youth Sports program, which uses the ballfields in Prospect Park, was struggling, it put out a call to its most famous alum.
Boston Red Sox reliever Adam Ottavino donated memorabilia and pitching lessons to raise $20,000 so far to help the organization that started him off in baseball rebuild from a post-pandemic hole that almost drove it to bankruptcy.
“That was how I got introduced to the world, by playing sports and being out there with other kids,” Ottavino said last week as he prepared to return to New York for a weekend series against the Yankees. “We don’t want it to go away.”