Belleville will continue to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with its annual softball doubleheader against a team of police officers from Puerto Rico, where ballgames are as much a way of life as white sand beaches and tropical breezes.
Members of the Belleville Police Department will play a doubleheader against police officers from Puerto Rico on Thursday, Sept. 19.
The first pitch at the varsity baseball field at the Municipal Sports Complex next to Belleville High School will be at 6 p.m.
In Belleville, where an estimated half the residents are Hispanic or Latino and can trace their roots to Puerto Rico, Mexico and a number of South American countries, the game of baseball — or its close cousin, softball — is a passion.
“It’s amazing to see how a good-spirited, fun game can bring people together,” Mayor Michael A. Melham, who played on the Belleville High School baseball team in the 1990s, said. “The games are competitive, everybody wants to win, but always is always a healthy respect between the players. Win or lose, it’s a celebration. Everybody wins, really.”
Belleville’s residents are invited to come out to cheer on the players.
The event has continued to grow over the past three years. Many residents turned out last week for the first doubleheader, dancing to music, enjoying food and celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month.
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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, an organization he has served since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook, and X, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to Kearny to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.