Homers for Heroes: The Canseco Twins, Squints From The Sandlot and a Case Against Travel Ball

WAPPINGERS FALLS, N.Y. - Jose and Ozzie Canseco, 62-year-old twins, won the celebrity home run derby Saturday night at Heritage Financial Park. Jose hit seven. Ozzie hit three. They took the title anyway and called themselves the real Bash Brothers.

Homers for Heroes ran from noon to nine at the home of the Hudson Valley Renegades, the Yankees' High-A affiliate, through intermittent rain and heavy humidity. Youth hitters from 7U through college took turns in age-group derbies, former major leaguers ran clinics, and every home run benefited Folds of Honor, which funds scholarships for the spouses and children of fallen and disabled service members and first responders.

Between the swings, the conversation kept coming back to one thing: what youth baseball costs, and who that cost is pushing out.

"We needed a reset"

The event was organized by Infantry Sports, and the people running it were blunt about why they started it.

"We needed to have a reset in youth sports," one of the organizers said. "It seems like there's quite a difficult response to expensive club programs and it's pushing parents out."

Their answer is what they call a "rec plus" model — club-level instruction without the year-round, pay-to-play intensity.

A rating system for travel ball

Jason Ferber, the youth coach known on social media as Coach Ferber, went further. He thinks travel baseball needs a universal rating system, with teams tested and slotted into tiers the way the minor leagues are.

"I don't think it should just be anybody that has $1,500 can give it to an event," he said. Teams that never practice end up in the same bracket as reclassified older players with strength coaches, nutritionists and professional instruction — and get steamrolled until the playoffs.

"From a development standpoint, I want more advanced players playing against more advanced players as much as possible."

Puerto Rico, without its stars

Mayra Winnie, a sports media creator who spent 21 years in the military and is Puerto Rican, said she had an identity crisis at the World Baseball Classic rooting for both Puerto Rico and Team USA.

What she didn't enjoy was watching Puerto Rico play at Hiram Bithorn Stadium without Francisco Lindor, Carlos Correa and Javier Báez, all kept off the roster over insurance issues.

"It was disappointing," she said. "You wanna see the best of the best from your island representing Puerto Rico. It almost feels unfair, like Puerto Rico didn't get a proper shot."

"No comparison"

Cameron Guzzo, a creator who documents sports fan culture around the world, has been to the semifinals and championship of the last two World Baseball Classics in Miami.

"It's easily the best baseball atmosphere I've ever been a part of," he said. "I have no comparison for any other baseball atmosphere I've seen."

Ohtani and a tennis racket

Clint Frazier, the former Yankees, Cubs and White Sox outfielder, said Homers for Heroes was the first time he'd been in a baseball environment since he stopped playing. Asked about Shohei Ohtani's future on the mound, he didn't hedge.

"I think Ohtani's like the most talented player that's ever played the game," Frazier said. "You give him a tennis racket and he'd be good."

The Cansecos on the robot umps

Before the derby, the twins were asked about the automated ball-strike system and pitch clock.

"Keep umpires out of the equation," Jose said. Ozzie, who spent years in the minors with brief major league stints, called it the best thing owners have done for the game.

Squints

Chauncey Leopardi played Michael "Squints" Palledorous in The Sandlot, which is to say he's responsible for the most famous fake drowning in American cinema.

He's in Los Angeles now and watches Ohtani regularly. He said hitting a baseball is the hardest thing in sports, and that the international talent in the majors now is one of the best things about it.

"America brought something special," he said, "and it's cool to see everybody sharing that."

Reporting and interviews by Matt Tallarini at Heritage Financial Park, Sept. 20, 2026.