From home plate at the Cal Ripken ball field on East Fifth Street, you can see the logo of the league clearly on the side of a chemical tank just across the street.
For Bob DeChiaro, president of Bayonne Cal Ripken League, the logo – designed by his brother, Joe – has come to symbolize more than his league, it symbolizes how Bayonne comes together for big and small things.
DeChiaro and other organizers of Cal Ripken League in Bayonne like to quote from the 1989 movie “Field of Dreams” a lot, because like the main character of the film, they had a lot of hope when they planned for the construction of the Fifth Street ball field in 1997.
Of course, the dream was more than for a baseball field, but for a program in which they could all be proud to participate.
Over the years, this brought together unique partners to help get things done. In the years since, the field and the program have become symbolic for a way of thinking, drawing more and more people into the Cal Ripken family.
Banks, contractors, businesses and individuals have all played their part in the success of the league, and yet recently, something relatively small seemed to bring it all together for him – that logo painted on the side of the chemical storage tank across the street at center field.
At some point after the end of last baseball season, DeChiaro looked out at the new field and beyond the fence to the line of fuel and chemical tanks that once served as a symbol for Bayonne’s industrial base and thought wouldn’t it be great if he could get the Cal Ripken/Babe Ruth logo painted on one of the tanks, especially the one facing the center field fence.
IMTT has always been a good neighborhood. They already had sponsored a plaque for the fence, along with the many other individuals and businesses that supported the league’s efforts.
But this was something special, and DeChiaro decided to ask, calling Richard Fisette, the terminal manager for IMTT-Bayonne – with whom he had a contact.
“I asked if was possible and he said that would be an expensive job,” DeChiaro said.
A few months went by and DeChiaro heard nothing. Then he got call asking just when the new season was scheduled to start.
“Dick said he would have the logo painted at no cost to us,” DeChiaro said.
“Bob DeChiaro from the Cal Ripken Baseball League contacted me last year and asked if we would consider putting a Cal Ripken League logo on one of our storage tanks next to the Fifth Street ball field since IMTT was already a supporter of the league,” Fisette said. “I told him we would.”
Although IMTT promised, DeChiaro didn’t think much about it after that since he had enough to do with helping get the season started, then a few days before the season opened, a scaffel appeared on the tank across the street at centerfield, and a paint company began to put up the logo – at no cost to the league – one of those amazing gestures that DeChiaro said makes Bayonne the kind of town it is.
“I approached Tom Kosakowski, owner of 6K’s Painting of Milford, who does painting work in our facility, and asked if he would consider helping out,” Fisette said. “Tom agreed to do the work for free. Tom and his son painted the logo this past April.”
“They didn’t have to do it. It even cost them to do it, and yet they wanted to do something for the team, and they did it,” DeChiaro said. “That’s really being part of the community, and everyone notices it, too.”