Jose Rivera leads maintenance crews for a living, but his real passion is coaching baseball.
He has been coaching for 21 years. In 2015, the Hunting Park native and current Olney resident started an organization called Play to Win to get a baseball league established at Hammond Avenue fields in Tacony Creek Park. Rivera began with six teams, all known as the Olney Angels.
Not long after, more teams were formed. But once this baseball project started to gain momentum, there was one problem.
“The clubhouse had fallen in. It was out of use,” remembered Dan Gordon, the board chair of Feliz Filadelfia, the non-profit organization established in 2022 to build off the work Play to Win began. “If the kids had to go to the bathroom, they had to run up to the shopping center that was a block away.”
This inspired Gordon to help Rivera fix this. With the help of foundation money and then-City councilwoman Cherelle Parker, clubhouse was completely renovated.
Feliz Filadelfia coaches mostly young Latinos and Latinas, ages 4 through 19, in baseball and softball, as well as a newly formed soccer program. The organization’s teams compete in the Phillies RBI and Philadelphia Department of Recreation leagues, travelling throughout the city. Since 2015, the Olney Angels have won six baseball championships and one girls’ softball title.
“Batter up!” – Playing in Puerto Rico
“The coaches came up with the idea – and the kids,” recalled Rivera. “We did some traveling, like Virginia and Allentown. Coach (Jose) Romero asked, ‘what do you think about Puerto Rico Jose, he doesn’t play around, so, you know what?” That turned on a lightbulb. They always say “think big, so I thought, let’s give it a shot. Let’s make it happen.’”
Indeed, Feliz Filadelfia made it happen. They started a GoFundMe, parents and players staged a car wash, and Dan Gordon donated his own money. In less than six months, they accomplished their fundraising goal, raising over $10,000. On July 6, the U19 Olney Angels flew out of Philadelphia International Airport to La Isla Del Encanto.
Travelling was both familiar and a brand-new experience for players and coaches alike. Though Rivera’s parents are from Puerto Rico, he had only visited the island once before. Most of the players are children of Puerto Rican migrants and Dominican and Venezuelan immigrants living in neighborhoods like Olney, Hunting Park and Mayfair (“about 80 percent of the kids speak Spanglish,” Rivera said). Still, many had never been to the island, or had not been there for many years.
Also new to the team: taking a bus through the mountains to play in two rural towns – Cidra and Yabucoa, PR – not in big-city San Juan, where they stayed during the trip. Both games were hosted in mini-stadiums with real ballpark seating. If the environment was new to all of them, the baseball vibes were not.
“You can smell the game of baseball there,” Rivera said. “You felt the vibe.”
The only bad news from this trip: the Angels lost two, close games – one in each stop. Still, it was a trip both coaches and players will never forget.
When asked what the feedback from the players was about the trip, Rivera quickly replied:
“When are we going back?”
If you want to learn more about Feliz Filadelfia, visit their website at www.felizfiladelfia.org/. Fall ball begins in September. Donors and sponsors are welcome.
*Michael Collazo is CEO of Dahday, LLC. Follow his Substack at dahdaytix.substack.com.