Imagine walking into a beautiful room filled with a buffet, luxurious pool tables, and some of the best baseball players in New England. Now imagine being able to eat the food and play pool with those players.

That’s the experience baseball fans were able to have during the “New Stars for Young Stars” event Jan. 11, 2014, at Jillian’s in Boston.

“New Stars for Young Stars” is a fund-raising event for the Jimmy Fund. A handful of players from the Red Sox minor league and major league teams came to raise money and show their support for the cancer patients and their families.

One of the players that were there was a player new to the Red Sox, A.J. Pierzynski. He has a reputation as being the most hated man in baseball, but at this event he was very friendly, approachable and kind to everyone.

A.J. was asked by a reporter how he felt about coming to Boston after they had just won the 2013 World Series.

“It’s exciting, but I wish I was on the team last year,” he said with a grin on his face. “It’s great to be part of the excitement of Boston.”

He said he is really happy to be here and looking forward to playing for the Boston Red Sox.

“It’s an honor to be participating in the Jimmy Fund event,” he said, adding that he was eager to share his support for the fantastic organization.

Joining A.J. were Rubby De La Rosa, Blake Swihart, Drake Britton, and Mookie Betts, all from the Red Sox minor leagues and all looking forward to being able to help out these patients.

Rubby De La Rosa is a pitcher. He is 25 years old, and he was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He gets along with his teammates very well.

“The whole Red Sox team is my family,’’ he said. “We treat each other like brothers and we all support each other.’’

He also said, “It is impossible not to talk to this team, they are very talkative.”

At the New Stars fund-raiser people could eat and bowl and get autographs, and Rubby loved it.

“It helps people get to know each other and you get to meet people,” he said. “It makes people feel happy. It’s a great fund-raiser and it is a great way to bring people together.”

A baseball player since age 5, Swihart was especially looking forward to becoming a future MLB player.

“It feels pretty good when you know your hard work will pay off eventually,’’ he said.

Blake said his favorite part of being a ballplayer off the field is when he gets to connect with real-life fans, like he had the chance to do at the Jimmy Fund event.

“Those are the fun times that go along with the job,’’ he said.

Blake said that the best thing about “New Stars For Young Stars” was that he got to see friends, and Mookie said he liked to meet kids and see new people.

The funniest part of “New Stars For Young Stars,” though, was Wally the Green Monster, the Red Sox mascot, who was in every single picture! He played and messed around with players and fans.

“New Stars For Young Stars” is a really fun and interesting fund-raising event where people can have fun with the Red Sox players — and get photo-bombed by Wally!

–WMS–