SWIM Celebrity Breakfast with Rick Cerone Raises $100,000

Bridgeport, CT, March 12, 2010 - Keynote Speaker Rick Cerone, former catcher with the New York Yankees, hit a homerun at the St. Vincent's SWIM Across the Sound 14th Annual Celebrity Breakfast held at the Holiday Inn in Bridgeport on Wednesday, March 10th.

Approximately 500 guests turned out for the event, including Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch. Local executives sponsored tables at the Breakfast and served as "celebrity waiters" for their friends and colleagues, in exchange for $100 "tips" that were also donated to the SWIM. John DiMarco of Luigi's Italian Pastries of Bridgeport and John Matthews, teacher and freshman class advisor at Trumbull High School co-chaired the event, helping to raise nearly $100,000 for the SWIM. All of the proceeds will provide assistance to cancer patients and their families and fund cancer screening, education and support programs at the Elizabeth Pfriem SWIM Center for Cancer Care.

Cerone was born May 19, 1954 in Newark, New Jersey. Drafted by the Cleveland Indians in his junior year at Seton Hall University, Cerone played in the Major Leagues from 1975 to 1992 for a total of nine different teams, including the New York Mets and the Boston Red Sox. Not only was he the first of his draft year to play in the major leagues, but he also had the longest run, playing until he was 39 years old. During his best season in 1980, which was his first with the Yankees, he scored 70 runs and 30 doubles and in the postseason batted .333. With the Mets he held a 159-game streak with no errors in 1989. He played with a lot of greats such as Bucky Dent, Goose Gossage, Reggie Jackson, Bobby Mercer, Ron Guidry and Graig Nettles.

When asked what catchers and pitchers discuss on the mound, Cerone said not much. "We're just giving him a break for the most part." He then recalled, "Goose came across as an animal on the mound. The first time I went out to talk to him, he said 'What are you doing? Get back there,' so I said 'Throw some strikes then.' And I never went out there again for Goose."

Cerone thinks it would be much harder to play baseball today. "I wish today's Yankees had a little more personality. It seems to me, they are all businessmen, but that's probably because they have to watch everything they say and do today. Everywhere they go, people are taking pictures of them with their cell phones and the media follow them around. It wasn't like that when I was playing. I'd get in a lot of trouble if I was playing today. I'd be all over YouTube."

When asked if he thinks today's Yankees make too much money, Cerone replied, "I don't think it's fair that the Yankees with a $240 million payroll play Tampa Bay with a $30 million payroll, but that's baseball. The Yankees make a lot of money, because the franchise is worth that much and more. They keep baseball alive."

After his playing career ended, Cerone founded the minor league team the Newark Bears and sold them in 2003. Currently, he makes his living in real estate and sports marketing and spends time with his three daughters. He also assists the kids of Newark through the Teach Our Children Foundation, which he co-founded in 1998 with former New York Giant and Seton Hall alum Bart Oates.

In addition to Cerone's sports commentary, the event also included silent and live auctions of sports memorabilia and the SWIM Car Raffle drawing. The 2010 Nissan Rogue S was won by Cesar Cestero, MD of Bridgeport, a physician resident at St. Vincent's Medical Center. For the sixth year, the car was donated by Mario D'Addario - Cadillac, Nissan, Buick, Pontiac, GMC of Shelton and William B. Meyer, Inc. of Stratford to benefit the SWIM and the Mario and Irma D'Addario Hypertension Fund at St. Vincent's Medical Center.

Media inquiries: Kristin Jones at (203) 576-6431 or krjones@stvincents.org

Photo caption: (L to R) The St. Vincent's SWIM Across the Sound 14th Annual Celebrity Breakfast Co-chairs John DiMarco of Luigi's Italian Pastry of Bridgeport and John Matthews, teacher and freshman class advisor at Trumbull High School present a thank you gift to Keynote Speaker Rick Cerone, former catcher with the New York Yankees along with Michael Bisciglia, vice president of St. Vincent's Medical Center Foundation and Ronald J. Bianchi, president of St. Vincent's Medical Center Foundation and corporate senior vice president of St. Vincent's Health Services.

About St. Vincent's SWIM Across the Sound
St. Vincent's SWIM Across the Sound is a charitable, grass roots organization run by the St. Vincent's Medical Center Foundation of Bridgeport, CT. Since 1987, the SWIM has had a unique niche, providing cancer education, screening and prevention programs at low- or no-cost for the uninsured and underinsured. In addition, the SWIM helps individual cancer patients on a case-by-case basis with specific needs, such as the funding of wigs and prostheses, medication assistance, free transportation to treatments and appointments, day-care scholarships, support groups and more. The charity raises funds through events such as the SWIM Marathon, Breast Cancer Luncheon, Walk/Run for Cancer and Prostate Cancer Celebrity Dinner. Wherever possible, the SWIM covers costs and expenses of events through corporate sponsorships, and staffing overhead is covered by the St. Vincent's Medical Center Foundation. The SWIM's main area of reach is eastern Fairfield County, but outreach programs extend to other areas of Connecticut with the SWIM's Hartford Chapter and annual fund raisers for New Haven County, as well as support for Connecticut's first responders and correction officers with cancer. The SWIM's Teen Smokestoppers program has reached 100,000 children throughout the entire state to date. The SWIM raised $2.65 million in the 2009 fiscal year and helps more than 20,000 people annually. For more information, contact the St. Vincent's Medical Center Foundation at (203) 576-5451 or visit www.swimacrossthesound.org.