Hillel campers got to meet two Mets

Cheers of, “They’re here! They’re here!” rang out across the field at Hillel Day Camp as Brandon Nimmo and Robert Gsellman, an outfielder and a relief pitcher, respectively, for the New York Mets arrived in Lawrence on July 20.

For the fourth year in a row Mets players visited the Orthodox Jewish day camp for children age two through 15. The camp began on June 28 and ends on Aug. 21, and these visits from Mets’ players have served as a reward for the campers for making it to the halfway mark.

According to Camp Director Ari Solomon, it seems likes the players have loved it as much as the campers. “The kids are always super excited,” he said. “But I’ve also heard that the players will talk to each other about how much they’ve loved coming down.” Last year Nimmo and Gsellman’s teammates, infielders Wilmer Flores and T.J. Rivera visited.

After signing a few bats and balls inside, Nimmo and Gsellman split up to talk and answer questions from separate groups of fifth-grade campers. Gsellman told campers who play baseball, “Enjoy it, have fun when you play. That’s why I’m here, to have fun with you guys.”

Nimmo told the children that his most memorable moments as a Met are a tie between his first home run in the majors in 2016, and his first walk-off home run, which he hit against the Philadelphia Phillies on July 11. He added that his father had worked very hard as an accountant, and that he told him, “If you love what you do you’ll never work a day in your life. I worked hard, stayed healthy and now I get to play baseball as my job.”

Campers then lined up for autographs before again lining up for a chance to play catch with the players. Ten-year-old Natalie Silver’s eyes became wide and she nodded forcefully when asked if she was a Mets fan, she then said that playing catch with Gsellman was, “Definitely my favorite part.”

Once their time with the campers was up, Nimmo and Gsellman had to quickly head north to the Bronx for the first game of the Subway Series between the Mets and Yankees. Solomon said that the camp was lucky, and very thankful that they were still able to bring them in with the game later that night.

Children at Camp Hillel receive instruction in as Solomon described, “All the major core sports,” by physical education teachers and certified coaches. More information on Camp Hillel can be found at http://www.hilleldaycamp.org/.