This weekend in Bradenton, hundreds of young athletes are taking the field for the Heroes Tribute Youth Baseball Tournament, marking 25 years since the September 11 attacks. Among them is the Yard Backyard Dogs, a Lakewood Ranch team whose jerseys carry the twin towers, the initials AV, and a number that means everything to their coach.
Anthony Massoni was in New York on 9/11, with family members serving as first responders at Ground Zero. Years later, he lost his childhood friend Anthony Varvaro, a former MLB pitcher who became a Port Authority police officer, killed in a 2022 crash while driving to a 9/11 memorial. The special jerseys and wristbands the team wears honor Varvaro’s memory and reinforce lessons in leadership and teamwork that Massoni says go far beyond baseball.
As Massoni puts it, this is more than just a game. It’s about celebrating the victims and families who died. On fields across Bradenton, that message is reaching a generation of kids who weren’t even born in 2001. Have you ever had a coach who taught you something bigger than the sport?
