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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PERFECT GAME TAPS FORMER MAJOR LEAGUE PLAYERS FOR
NEW SAFETY AND RULES COMMITTEE
Sanford, Florida (Tuesday, July 23, 2024) - Perfect Game, the world’s largest youth baseball and softball platform and scouting service, today announced a new safety and rules committee comprised, in part, of several former major league players and key industry executives aiming to enhance safety protocols and improve the rules of governing. Former All-Stars and Perfect Game employees Tom “Flash” Gordon, Ryan Klesko and Mo Vaughn, along with former MLB manager and Perfect Game investor Charlie Manuel, will lend their combined 67 years of major league experience to the committee. Rounding out the committee is Pat Mason, Perfect Game’s director of leagues and business development.
The purpose of the committee is to review the safety and rules around Perfect Game’s on-field events and make recommendations to properly ensure the well being of the athletes competing under the Perfect Game banner.
“The safety of our athletes is always Perfect Game’s top priority and as we continue to grow and expand our business operations, we recognize the importance of utilizing the great baseball minds we are fortunate to have around us,” said Perfect Game CEO Rob Ponger. “We are excited about the group we have assembled as they bring unmatched baseball knowledge and a deep understanding of how the game is played between the white lines.”
Klesko and Vaughn, two of the most feared left-handed sluggers of the past 30 years, joined Perfect Game earlier this year as special assistants to ownership working on various projects across multiple departments. Gordon has been part of Perfect Game’s front office for over a decade. The former closer has served as a coach and mentor to many of the athletes that participate in PG events. After a successful playing career in Japan, Manuel became the winningest manager in Philadelphia Phillies history. He joined Perfect Game earlier this year as an investor and has attended several tournaments and showcases this summer.
Mason was named to his current position in June and works as part Perfect Game’s strategic operations team, regionally expanding PG’s footprint. The New England native has spent most of the last 20 years working as a coach at the collegiate level at institutions such as Boston College, Northeastern University and Virgina Tech.
The committee will be responsible for reviewing current safety protocols, proposing new safety measures and updating rules to reflect the latest developments in sports science and technology.
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Media contact:
Greg Casterioto / Gcasterioto@perfectgame.org / (267) 246-5709
About Perfect Game
Perfect Game is the world’s largest elite youth baseball and softball platform and scouting service, producing over 9,800+ events, hundreds of thousands of games, and showcases each year across the country. Perfect Game is dedicated to giving amateur players exposure to take their game to the next level, whether that be in college or in the professional ranks. At Perfect Game events, players are performing with top-level competition in front of college recruiters and professional scouts from all over the country. Because of this, these events prove to be invaluable to college coaches as well as Major League Baseball, as they can scout a large population of talented ballplayers in one location. To date, more than 2,034 players that have played in a Perfect Game event have also played in Major League Baseball. Since 2003, 14,466 Perfect Game alumni have been selected in the MLB First-Year Amateur Player Draft. In the 2023 Draft, for example, 95 percent of all players selected had played in Perfect Game events, and every player selected on the Draft’s first day had previously attended Perfect Game events.