Matt Strahm donated a dashboard to the Newtown Square team for adults with functional needs

Matt Strahm surprised Angels – a Newtown Square baseball team for adults with functional needs – with personalized gloves at the Citizens Bank Park earlier this season when a PHillie staff member told him to hide so that they could capture players’ reactions when they spotted it.

It will not work, said Strahm. The angels do not consider Strahm as the relief of the stars with long hair. It’s just a guy who comes to their games on Sunday evening and knows Bryce Harper. The angels will not be surprised, said Strahm.

“And as soon as the doors opened, some of them entered and just said:” Hi Matt “and have passed,” said Strahm. “They didn’t care.” It’s Matt. It is one of our friends. “I am another human for them.

The angels play every Sunday at Gable Park with major league rules on 90 -foot bases with complete referees and uniforms. They have songs without an appointment and personalized bats.

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Strahm went to his first game in 2023 in his first season with the Phils. His agent, Allan Donato, helps to train the angels, and Strahm had already met some of the players. So Strahm and his wife, Megan, went to Gable Park two years ago when they had nothing to do on a Sunday evening.

“Then we lived it,” said Strahm. “It captures you. And you want to be part of it every Sunday. ”

Strahm ordered food trucks to come to the field, paid new fences, organized the team a Christmas party and gave each player a personalized belt like the one he carries in the majors. He was everything. Strahm asked what else he could do.

Matt Catania, whose father started the league in 2014 to make his sons, Jimmy and Luke, can continue to play ball after aged the Challenger division of Little League, told Strahm that the simple fact of coming to the field was sufficient.

“Then he says,” but what do you need? “” Said Catania. “I said,” No, no. Don’t ask them. Indeed, Jimmy and Luke Go: “We could really use a dashboard”. Matt is just going, “ok”. »»

Vision of coach Joe

Joe Catania told her son and Donato to keep the angels shortly before his death in 2022 from brain cancer. Make it bigger and betterhe said to them. Now the angels have great leaguers to come to their games.

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“We never planned it. We just wanted to give these guys a outlet to play baseball,” said Catania. “There is something special here. To see it grow up, you can’t help but think about him. Whenever we are here or every time I am there for these guys, smiles on their faces. I just want to honor his heritage and his commitment to this community. I hope we will make him proud.”

Catania’s vision was to use baseball as a means of teaching lessons. Angels would learn the importance of practice, how to react to the failure and the value of being a teammate. And they would play with standard rules.

First, they had to record an outing. Challenger – The Little League Baseball division for players with physical or intellectual challenges – does not record withdrawals and everyone marks.

“He said,” I want them to learn real baseball. Balles, strikes, withdrawals, play the “”, said Pam Dimartini, whose son, Sonny, plays for the angels. “I’m going,” oh guy. I don’t know if they can do that. “”

The first striker struck a group, the field player launched first, and the referee called him. The striker asked Matt Catania if he had to return to the canoe. Yes, said Catania. And he did it. The game continued.

“Dad approached me and said,” It could actually work, “said Catania. “Dad was a strong believer that this community, they want to be challenged. Don’t baby. Treat them like adults. Everyone has contributions and capacities. Push them. No matter what it is.

The love of the game

The match did not start before 5 p.m., but Jimmy and Luke Catania were in full uniform a few years ago when they sat on Sunday breakfast. Joe Catania quickly heard that the same thing was happening at home.

For the angels, Sunday became the highest point of the week. They couldn’t wait for the first throw.

“They are set up the previous week to return right away and leave,” said Richard Chamovitz, whose son, Kyle, plays for the angels. “They love it. As parents, it’s incredible to see it and experience it and make it available for our children. ”

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Most Angels players have attended high school until they are 21 years old. After that, it was difficult to find a replacement for this social experience. Programs said Matt Catania is limited. This is what angels provide.

They play games every Sunday from May to November, then train during the winter.

“It’s great,” said Sonny Dimartini. “I have fun every time. I love it. “

The players are friends, even if they healed themselves during the match. There are no fees. Everything is provided.

“It’s so fun to play with friends,” said Jonathan Stanton.

To win a baseball match, Joe Catania often told his players that they should first win the “little games”. Win enough small games – Move the runners, align the groups, catch pop -ups – and everything will be fine.

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It’s the same thing for life, now says Matt Catania. Win small games throughout the day – Clean your room, make the dishes, take out the garbage – and you will have a good day. For angels, it has always been more than baseball.

“There is a confidence that comes from it,” said Chamovitz. “This is what translates. They know they do something special and have a good time. They know they can play ball. It is not a little deer. It is a real ball, and they know they can do it. It transports. Joe had a vision, and he did this without even imagining what it would become.”

House of Angels

A rain period on Sunday in South Philly caused the end of the Phillies game after the angels had already started in Newtown Square. But Strahm has always arrived in Gable Park, rushing into the Phillies clubhouse, as he often does.

“I love him,” said Sonny Dimartini. “He’s a nice guy, and he throws good.”

Strahm brought the angels to the central field and showed them the new dashboard. Ryan O’Hearn, who plays the first goal and the external field for the Baltimore Orioles and is represented by Donato, also helped to pay for this.

O’Hearn, who got to know the angels, used a bat in the All-Star MLB match last week which was signed by the team. One of the Angels players commented on an article on social networks on the bat that O’Hearn was his friend. Donato sent him to O’Hearn and said it was cool that the player thought they were friends.

“Ryan wrote:” They are my friends “, said Donato. “He really believes it.”

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Cole Hamels saw the Instagram post of Matt Catania in April about the opening day of the Challenger day of the Newtown-Edgemont Little League and asked what he could do. Stop, said Catania. Hamels stayed for each match.

AJ Feeley, the former quarter of the Eagles, heard that the Angels were going to be without a launcher earlier this month because Catania was to train the team of her son and that Donato went with O’Hearn to the star match. Feeley said he could do it.

“We are not turning their arms to be here,” said Catania. “We don’t beg them to be there. They want to be here. “

Strahm’s brother Ben launched on Sunday, and his wife and daughter, who jumped the Phillie match on Saturday to attend Jimmy Catania’s birthday party, joined him.

“I love going there and watching them play baseball,” said Strahm. “Their personalities are so in black and white of good and evil. It’s pure. It’s fun to be part of. “

Strahm donated the dashboard with little fanfare. No alert was sent to the press to let them know. There were no rolling television cameras. And that’s how Joe Catania operated, said his son. Catania did not want attention. He just did it.

And Joe Catania’s League now has a dashboard – “Gable Park Home of the Angels,” he said – thanks to a phillies launcher he never met but would have liked.

“It kills me that he is missing,” said Matt Catania.

Pam Dimartini intervenes.

“It is not,” she said.

And Catania nodded.

“I know,” he said. “I try to remember every Sunday. He showed us the way. It’s a simple game. Just continue.