Tuesday evening at the Grand Hyatt New York City brought us the 29
th Annual Thurman
Munson Awards Dinner, benefiting the
AHRC. Among the honorees for their charity work were New York Yankee Outfielder, Johnny Damon and New York Met Outfielder, Carlos Beltran.
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Johnny Damon, Ron Swoboda, Carlos Beltran / N. Diunte |
Damon received the Thurman
Munson Award as a result of his involvement with the Wounded Warrior Project. Damon was glowing in his praise of
Munson, describing him as a "gamer, great family guy, great competitor and a
champion."
As much as he tried during the press conference, he could not escape the repeated questions about Joe Torre's new book which had been released the same day. Damon took a little jab at the reporters.
"I'm not sure I am going to need to read the book as I am going to hear every little bit about it every single day."
Beltran was honored for his charitable donations to create sports education programs in his native
Puerto Rico. He was proud to be recognized for his efforts.
"It's about doing things right off of the field, being able to give back to the people who really need it the most," Beltran said. "When I give, I don't expect to receive awards, but when you do, it lets you know you are doing the right thing."
Beltran also tried to sidestep the Torre questions, after a reporter found the two sentences where Beltran was mentioned in the book.
"When I met with the Yankees, he wasn't there, he didn't know what we talked about," Beltran said. "He said what he said, and that's his opinion. I don't have a comment on it. I am happy where I am."
Also honored were: 1969
Mets players Ron
Swoboda, Bud
Harrelson, Art
Shamsky, Ed
Kranepool, NY Giants Wide Receiver David Tyree, former NY
Knick Allan Houston and Olympic Gold Medalist Dara Torres. On hand at the event to present awards were former Yankee Bernie Williams, and 1986
Mets pitcher and
SNY analyst Ron Darling.
Johnny Damon
David Tyree, Diana
Munson, Allan Houston, Dara Torres, Bernie Williams