Seven On Your Side's Tappy Phillips went to bat for a youngster who had his dream dashed.
Whether it's baseball cards, posters or autographs, Timothy LaRocca loves everything Mets.
Tappy: "Are you a Mets fan?"
LaRocca: "Oh yeah."
Tappy: "How long have you been a Mets fan?"
LaRocca: "Since I was born."
That's why the 7-year-old was excited when his mom paid $300 to enroll him in the Mets baseball academy, a week-long camp for youngsters.
"They would teach us how to catch and hit two different ways," he said. "And it was going to be very fun."
But the day before camp started, Timothy fell hard in the playground, breaking his non-throwing arm.
"No more baseball after that," mom Janice LaRocca said. "He had to take a break."
The academy is run by Triple Crown Baseball, which pays the Mets to use the team's name.
According to the camp's cancellation policy, for refunds, parents must submit notification in writing 30 days prior to the start of camp. Still, Janice says one of the camp's directors felt sorry for Timothy, got him some Mets autographs and promised a refund.
"We've had this expectation since August that we would be getting our refund," Janice said.
So Janice called and E-mailed. A camp director even wrote back promising to take care of the refund. But no money arrived.
Tappy: "Do you think your mom should get the money back for the camp?"
Timothy: "Oh yeah. It's not really fair. We pay $300 and we don't get any money back."
So we contacted the camp's director, who said they sent out a check to Janice last November that somehow got lost. But just a day later, Janice got a delivery.
Cash!
But the best part? The camp gave Timothy a free week at camp this summer.
"I was just shocked," Timothy said "I almost fainted. I could go for free."
