Ray Negron

Rays amazing journey began decades ago when at 16years of age he was caught spraying graffiti on a wall at Yankee Stadium by NY Yankees owner George Steinbrenner As fate would have it Steinbrenner decided against putting Ray in jail and instead offered him a second chance making him the batboy for the greatest franchise in sports history Ray was propelled into a dream job sharing the dugout with the Bronx Zoo team of the seventies He became a positive influence in the fiery clubhouse that included Manager Billy Martin superstar Reggie Jackson and the legendary Thurman Munson And for the next 35 years Steinbrenner and Ray built a special relationship until Steinbrenners passing in 2010 Steinbrenners vision lives on through Ray As the Community Affairs Advisor for the NY Yankees Ray is immersed in ensuring that veteran players and Yankee rookies promote the tradition of the clubs pride and inspiration by visiting terminally sick kids in hospitals and supporting the innercity youth throughout New York He manages Hanks Yanks a not for profit competitive youth travel baseball team of underprivileged kids ages 1018 sponsored by New York Yankees coowner Hank Steinbrenner Ray is an avid writer publishing four childrens books His first book The Boy of Steel was 2 on the NY Times Bestseller List and is currently displayed at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown His third book One Last Time Goodbye to Yankee Stadium reached 1 on Amazons Bestseller List In 2012 he published his memoirs Yankee Miracles Life with the Boss and cowrote a childrens holiday book with Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia As a film producer Ray developed the fulllength animated feature film Henry and Me about a boys magical journey as he battles cancer based on his childrens books Voices for the animation include Richard Gere Cyndi Lauper Chazz Palminteri Danny Aiello Luis Guzman and Paul Simon Ray is also the Associate Producer on the film Stano starring Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello Ray is a member of the International Latino Hall of Fame and the Ted Williams Hall of Fame for his humanitarian efforts with children around the country In 2007 the Department of Homeland Security honored Ray for his leadership in the Hispanic community and the impact he has made on American society Additionally Ray can be heard on weekends on Impact on ESPN Radio 1050am talking baseball and entertainment His writes a weekly column for NY Sports Day and Newsmax A powerful and inspirational speaker he passionately shares his amazing journey revealing his experience with the Bronx Bombers special relationship with Steinbrenner and what it was like to hang around some of the alltime Yankee greats