Message from BMNAR’s CEO: We hit a grand slam for the Bronxchester Realtors!

Two years ago, The Bronx-Manhattan North Association of Realtors (BMNAR) decided to put their trade show on the inactive reserve. In its place, a call was made to the big show and “A Night with the Yankees” was born. The routine has been the same for the past two years, we reserve 108 seats by center field at the MasterCard Batter’s Eye Café for an evening of networking followed by the Yankee vs. the Red Sox game. 

Year three was more challenging. The Yankees played the Red Sox earlier in the year so our normal September date became June 8th. Fast forwarding, it’s now two weeks before the umpire yells “play ball,” and we still had 30 tickets to sell. Thirty tickets was too much of a loss to absorb. At the May meeting with my Board of Governors, I made a pitch to the Governors to buy a ticket and give it to a client, or donate it to a local Little League team. 

After the meeting I thought, “Wait a minute, BMNAR sponsored a team and I help manage it.” The name of the team is the Bronxchester Realtors. It would be a wonderful experience for the players if they could see the Yankees whoop the Red Sox. The following morning, I sent an email to my membership. The gist of the email was: “I would like to take the Bronxchester Realtors, the Little League team BMNAR sponsored and I manage,” to the ball game. And, “I wanted to take them to the crowd.” And, “I wanted to buy them peanuts and Cracker Jacks,” and so on… 

One of my members, Steve Wolinetz, Wolinetz Management LLC, got the ball rolling by agreeing to sponsor one of my players. What happened next is what makes my job enjoyable and why I love my members. My entire team, 15 players and two coaches, were sponsored to attend “A Night with the Yankees!”

Thank you to Steve Wolinetz; Laurena Torres; Richard Gillotti; Christina Leigh-Stevens; Danielle Erickson Noak; Jim Slattery; Joe Fingerman; Sterling National Bank; Anthony Mormile; Jim Coleman; Ellen Feld; Shimon Shkury; Perry Gault; and, Kathy Zamechansky for writing a check and opening your hearts to a bunch of wonderful players.

The Bronxchester Realtors had a wonderful time and many memories were made that night. The players received a surprise visits from City Council candidate, assemblyman Robert Rodriguez and Ray Negron, the famous Yankee bat-boy, author, producer and radio personality. Vincent Buccieri from Today Realty, arranged for the players to be featured on the scoreboard. 

The players were inspired by the Yankee experience and the momentum carried over and the team won their last three games of the regular season. The Bronxchester Realtors are playoff bound with a record of 18 wins, one loss and a tie. After the last game, a few players asked me to take them to the see the Mets. I told them, “Win the championship and I’ll see what I can do.”

It was a thrill to see the many happy faces after the Yankee game. For all of us, it was a night to remember. What made the whole experience even greater for the players–the Yankees won! 

Eliezer Rodriguez, Esq. is the chief executive officer of The Bronx-Manhattan North Association of Realtors, Bronx, N.Y.