YAWKEY BASEBALL LEAGUE OF BOSTON

Board of Directors

Dave McKay, of Dorchester, has served the Yawkey League as President since 1992. He manages the McKay Club Beacons of Dorchester. The Beacons are celebrating its 30th YBL season in 2013. The team is named in memory of his parents. Dave was a two time Candidate for the Boston City Council in 1979 & 1987. He was a Catholic Educator at Saint Gregory & Saint Ambrose Parish Schools from 1978 to 1980. In 1981, Dave joined the faculty of his High School Alma Mater - Christopher Columbus Catholic Central HS. He served as a Social Study Instructor; Assistant Baseball Coach; Activities Coordinator and Development Director until the school was closed in 1991.

In 1991, McKay was appointed to the Staff of Boston Mayor Ray Flynn, and has served Mayors Flynn and Tom Menino as a Constituent Service Specialist for 21 years. Dave's baseball life spans 45 years. He was a coach in the Mill Stream Baseball League in Dorchester during his High School years. At 19, he took over the Mill Stream program and helped it develop into one of Boston's largest amateur baseball programs for youth & young men. He worked in that area for 15 years.

The McKay Club in the Boston Junior Park League/Yawkey League has made the League Championship finals 3 times: 1992, 1998 & 2000. The McKay Club was the final opponent of the Colorado Silver Bullet Women's Baseball Team at Fenway Park in 1997, defeating them 5-2. Dave also was honored to manage 5 YBL All Star Games at Fenway Park. Some highlights of McKay's 22 year YBL Tenure are: Yawkey League All Star Games at Fenway Park 1992 to 2004; Game of the Week coverage on Boston Local Cable outlet Comcast; league returned to using wood bats and strengthened our contacts with the City of Boston & Yawkey Foundation - Boston Trust. The YBL has established a connection with the US Military All Star barn-Storming Team over the years. The YBL has also developed a connection with the Inter City, Boston Park league and Cranberry League. This winter the Four League Presidents of those leagues voted to initiate the first ever – Eastern Massachusetts All Star Classic. The YBL will hold a stand-alone Inner League All Star Game at the Home of the Lowell Spinners. The YBL has developed a Code of Ethics which controls player/coach activity between the white lines.

McKay created a talk show on Local Comcast Community Access in 2006. The Boston Baseball Head Show covered all aspects of amateur & professional baseball. Dave also did the play-by-play and color commentary on YBL Games of the Week, which also aired on Comcast. The YBL has upgraded its media Connections to the Boston Herald/Globe. The YBL will publish a new and improved web page, which will hold more video and news content soon. We will also begin to do live Pod Casts of games in progress with John Leahy at the mike!

The YBL All Stars, under McKay's guidance returned to Fenway Park on October 6, 2012. This was a great personal triumph after 7 years of hard work and contacts came to fruition! Dave was inducted as a Builder into the Yawkey League Hall of Fame in November 2012.

“The YBL is proud of our 16 top quality franchises in 2013. The League and its participants are a beacon to the amateur baseball community in Greater Boston,” McKay recently reflected. “The young men who compete between the white lines in this league are some of the best baseball talent in the country. I look toward to many years of success for the Tom Yawkey Baseball League.”

Joe O'Hara welcomes 2013 as his 30th year with the Al Thomas Club - 6 as a player, followed by 9 as a coach, and the last 15 as manager. The Al Thomas Club has won 5 league championships in 9 trips to the finals, and has made the playoffs in 21 of the last 22 years. The A’s have won 17 division titles.

A former 14-year manager and past president of the Milton Babe Ruth League and 5-year coach of Milton Senior Babe Ruth, he has been on the YBL Board for 16 years in several capacities, including VP, Membership Officer, Director of Fundraising, Member-at-Large and Director of Player Development and Communications.

A B.C. High and Boston College graduate, O'Hara worked in the B.C. High Development Office for 7-plus years before moving on to serve 8 years as Director of Development for James F. Farr Academy, Inc. in Cambridge, and then as grant writer for Partners Home Care. He currently serves as Community Liaison for Operation Homefront New England, which provides emergency financial and other assistance to service members and their families, and wounded warriors. Additionally, he also serves as a fundraising consultant specializing in grant writing, golf tournaments and special events.

Dave Treska is the President of the Somerville Highlander Alumni / Alibrandis Baseball Club. Founded in 1990, the team has won a record ten Yawkey Baseball League Championships in the team's 22 year history. The club also enjoyed National Recognition, starting the 2003 Season as the 11th-ranked team in the United States and in 2010 as the top rated team in the country by the National Semi-Pro Baseball Association.

Treska was an 1988 Greater Boston League All Star in his senior season at Somerville High School and went on to captain the Bunker Hill Community College baseball team in 1989-1990. He later served as Assistant Coach at Newbury College in 1999 and as Head Coach at Bunker Hill from 2000 through 2002. In 2000, he led the Bunker Hill team to the Championship of the Yankee Small Conference.

Treska first played for Henry's Baseball Club in the then Junior Park League in 1988 and '89. The following season David was granted a franchise in the newly named Yawkey Baseball League and started the Somerville Highlander Alumni Baseball Club. As a player he went on to win two Gold Gloves and play in six All Star games, three of which were at Fenway Park and was a member of 8 of the teams 10 YBL Championships. Dave has served on the Yawkey Baseball League Board of Directors since 1996 as Secretary, and has been instrumental in the continued growth of the league.

Dr. Kevin McGovern, PT, is a seasoned veteran of the Yawkey Baseball League. He broke into the league with the Brighton Black Sox in 1996. He has played for Savin Hill and Chelsea before forming his own franchise: The Malden Bulldogs in 2007. Kevin served as a player/coach until his final retirement as a player in 2011. Kevin continues to manage the Bulldogs who have enjoyed great success in the YBL making to the Finals 4 times. Although The Bulldogs came up short each time, they are a formidable foe to the whole league.

Kevin is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and a Strength and Conditioning Specialist by trade. He is the owner of McGovern Physical Therapy (www.mcgovernpt.com) and Game 7 Sports Training (www.game7sportstraining.com). Kevin works with a lot of athletes especially rehabilitating and training pitchers. His work with Bulldog pitchers has paid dividends. A Bulldog pitcher has won the Pedro Martinez Award for Most Outstanding Pitcher each of the last 5 years!

Kevin lives in Watertown with his wife Elizabeth and his two daughters, Riley and Reagan.

Eric Bellavia, is in his 4th year as co-owner and manager for the East Boston Knights. The Knights were voted in the league in 2010 as the 16th franchise in the YBL. Eric has worked countless hours along with Geoff Harris to build a team from scratch. Together they realized their vision of bringing baseball back to the community of East Boston. The Knights also are the first team to utilize video to help ballplayers improve their skills. With over 4500 videos posted on their website, the Knights have truly paved the way for future amateur baseball organizations. The Knights have upgraded their team especially their pitching staff in 2012 and have hopes to make the playoffs this upcoming season.

Bellavia has coached and managed in youth league for the last 6 years currently managing Little League Baseball and girls softball in Tewksbury. Eric played his high school baseball for Boston Technical High School where he was part of the last team in Boston Tech’s history before the school changed its name. He is currently the president of the RRBL and also does play by play for the RRBL’s game of the week. A member of the BOD for the 2nd year and also a member of the YBL’s rules committee.

Ted Tracy, has been a member of the Yawkey League since 1997 as a player, manager and franchise owner. He played his first 3 seasons in the YBL with the Westwood Angels before joining the Brighton Braves in 2000. He took over the coaching duties with the Braves in 2004 and became the franchise owner of the team in June of 2009. As a player, Ted has been a 5-time YBL All-Star and a 2009 Gold Glove award winner. He also had the privilege of playing in the 2000 YBL All-Star game at Fenway Park.

Ted grew up in Needham and attended Needham High where he was a 3-sport athlete in baseball, football and hockey. He attended Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, FL playing JV baseball before transferring to Roger Williams University in Rhode Island, playing 3 years for the Hawks baseball team and setting a school record for walks in a season in 1999. Ted also played ice hockey his sophomore year at RWU before the school cancelled the program.

This is Ted’s third year as a member of the BOD and served as the Code of Ethics officer in 2012. Ted currently lives in Walpole and works as a software programmer.

Dave McKay

PRESIDENT