It’s been almost 20 years since NYPD Officer Michael Buzcek was gunned down in Washington Heights, but his legacy lived on yesterday with the dedication of a new Little League ball field created in his honor.
Hundreds gathered at the $900,000 AstroTurf field in Highbridge Park after marching in a parade to kick off the baseball season.
The city-built diamond replaces the muddy, broken-glass-strewn lot the nearly 500 kids involved in the league used before.
It features two misting stations, bleachers, new dugouts and gates, a warm-up area and improved lighting and fencing.
“My son played ball when he was a little kid. He coached for years afterwards. He would be overjoyed if he could see this today,” said Buzcek’s 81-year-old father, Ted.
Drug dealers gunned Buzcek down on Oct. 18, 1988 – the same day another cop, Christopher Hoban, was killed by drug dealers in upper Manhattan during the height of the crack scourge that swept through the city in the late 1980s.
NYPD Sgt. John Moynihan, president of the Little League, said, “Mr. Buczek has fought for one thing – to keep the name of his son alive, and he does that by doing this for the kids.”