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The Asbury Park Little League is starting the year with a new goal. Their objective is to raise enough money to offer free registration to any child who wants to play the nation’s favored sport.

“We are going to give it a try and hopefully things will work out one way or another,” longtime League President Danny McKee said.

McKee, who has held the League president post since 2005, will now takes on the role of CEO. Former VP and longtime coach Will Wright has been named the League’s president.

“We’ve seen a recent drop in participation,” said Wright, a city resident since the 1970s. “A lot of it is basically because parents don’t have enough money, especially if they have two or three kids.”

Joining the fundraising initiative is longtime supporter Heather Racioppi, a former Asbury Park resident who now calls Wanamassa home. Racioppi, who co owns Murphy’s Tavern in Rumson, has been donating to the organization for the past ten years.

“When we took over the business in 2005, we wanted to find an organization or charity to donate to,” Racioppi said. “When I got the letter about them waiving the fee because they wanted to build a better program and get more participants, the line that struck me was that once a child found out the cost, you could see their enthusiasm leave their faces. They knew not even to ask their parents for money because it’s not there.”

And while last year’s Yankee Home Opener party at the Rumson venue helped increase their financial support through MLB pitcher Bob Ojeda’s participation, Racioppi has upped her involvement by creating a GoFundme page and collaborating with the league to organize further fundraising initiatives.

“Bobby is a very generous man,” she said of the former Met. “He came on board to donate some time and to make some phone calls. I created the GoFundMe page because these are such wonderful people doing such wonderful things and they need the funding. I know they are going to need new bats this year because the regulations have changed.”

McKee said while the League generally draws 90 to 100 kids, they hope to at least double membership, in part, to provide the players with a more competitive organization and to become a feeder system to the Asbury Park High School baseball team.

“The thing is, in order to be competitive with the other teams who have 400 or 500 kids, we need more kids,” he said. “The kids that play, stay. They love to play but it’s getting new kids to give it a try that is difficult. For a lot of parents the $85 is prohibitive especially if they don’t know whether the kids will like it or not. To be a good feeder system, you need a big pool of kids from where you can draw.”

The beloved national sport’s reputation for providing those allegorical lessons is not lost on Wright.

“The main reason we do this is to give the give the kids something to do in order to keep them off the street,” Wright said. “We are not teaching them just about baseball but about life. We want them to learn to respect not only the coaches and players but their parents and community leaders. It goes much further than baseball. I personally don’t care if we win a game, as long as we win a kid’s heart and mind, and are able to show them how to be a great leader and person.”

McKee, in his role as CEO, will continue to oversee the League’s operation and serve as its chief fundraiser and administrator of special programs, like the annual trips to the Little League Home in Williamsport, Pa, summer games, pool parties and barbecue events, and the winter break trip to Doyle Baseball Camp in Florida.

Wright said, as president he will not only focus on increasing the number of players and coaches but participation from parents and the community as a whole. To that end, Wright said he hopes to install speakers at the field in order to have a game announcer.

“I know how hard Danny and Will have worked to help the community and the kids,” Mayor John Moor. “Their efforts are commendable.”

The Asbury Park Little League will hold sign up events from noon to 2 p.m. every Saturday through month’s end. The Annual Pancake Breakfast will be held from 8 a.m to noon on Feb. 3 at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School, located at 600 Monroe Ave. It will be a last chance opportunity for families to register their children. Tickets to the buffet style event will be sold at the door.

McKee said they will work through February to fill out the teams and coaches, and begin indoor practices at APSD facilities in March. Opening day will by noon on April 7 at their field, located at the Asbury Park High School campus.

“Our goal is to hopefully mentor these kids and guide them through the rocky road they are walking as a youth,” McKee said. “I guess that’s sort of idealistic but I just want these kids to have a fair shake in life and baseball is my venue and my way to reach out to them. I can walk anywhere in Asbury Park and the kids will know me and I will know them because if you don’t get to know them you can’t talk to them about the things they need talking about. For me it’s just my way of giving them an alternative and getting them to college and on to having a good life.”

All donations to the Asbury Park Little League are tax deductible. For more information, visit their website.

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