Matt Strahm donated a scoreboard to a baseball team for adults with functional needs. They gave him much more.

Matt Strahm was surprising the Angels — a Newtown Square baseball team for adults with functional needs — with custom gloves at Citizens Bank Park earlier this season when a Phillies staffer told him to hide so they could capture the players’ reactions when they spotted him.

That won’t work, Strahm said. The Angels don’t think of Strahm as the All-Star reliever with the long hair. He’s just a guy who comes to their games on Sunday nights and happens to know Bryce Harper. The Angels won’t be surprised, Strahm said.

“And as soon as the doors opened, a few of them walked in and just said, ‘Hi Matt’ and walked by,” Strahm said. “They didn’t care. ‘That’s Matt. He’s one of our friends.’ I’m another human to them. I’m no different than them, and they’re no different than me. I go and watch their games just like they watch my games.”

The Angels play every Sunday at Gable Park with major league rules on 90-foot bases with umpires and full uniforms. They have walk-up songs and personalized bats.

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Strahm went to his first game in 2023 during his first season with the Phils. His agent, Allan Donato, helps coach the Angels, and Strahm had already met some of the players. So Strahm and his wife, Megan, drove to Gable Park two years ago when they had nothing to do on a Sunday night.

“Then we experienced it,” Strahm said. “It just captures you. And you want to be a part of it every Sunday.”

Strahm ordered food trucks to come to the field, paid for new fences, threw the team a Christmas party, and gave each player a custom belt like the one he wears in the majors. He was all in. Strahm asked what else he could do.

Matt Catania, whose dad started the league in 2014 so his sons, Jimmy and Luke, could keep playing ball after aging out of Little League’s Challenger Division, told Strahm that simply coming to the field was enough.

“Then he goes, ‘But what do you guys need?’” Catania said. “I said, ‘No, no. Don’t ask them that.’ Sure enough, Jimmy and Luke go, ‘We could really use a scoreboard.’ Matt just goes, ‘OK.’”

Joe Catania told his son and Donato to keep the Angels going shortly before he died in 2022 from brain cancer. Make it bigger and better, he told them. Now the Angels have big leaguers coming to their games.

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“We never anticipated it. We just wanted to give these guys an outlet to play baseball,” Catania said. “There’s something special here. To see it grow, you can’t help but think about him. Anytime we’re up here or anytime I’m out there pitching to these guys, the smiles on their faces. I just want to honor his legacy and his commitment to this community. I hope we’re making him proud.”

Catania’s vision was to use baseball as a way to teach lessons. The Angels would learn the importance of practice, how to respond to failure, and the value of being a teammate. And they would play by standard rules.

First, they had to record an out. Challenger — Little League Baseball’s division for players with physical or intellectual challenges — doesn’t record outs, and everyone scores.

“He said, ‘I want them to learn real baseball. Balls, strikes, outs, plays at the plate,’” said Pam DiMartini, whose son, Sonny, plays for the Angels. “I’m going, ‘Oh man. I don’t know if they can do this.’”

The first batter hit a grounder, the fielder threw to first, and the umpire called him out. The batter asked Matt Catania if he should return to the dugout. Yes, Catania said. And he did. The game went on.

“Dad walked up to me and said, ‘This might actually work,’” Catania said. “Dad was a strong believer that this community, they want to be challenged. Don’t baby them. Treat them like adults. Everyone has contributions and abilities. Push them. No matter what it is. Maybe I back up on the mound as they’re improving. But whatever it is, challenge them. It comes out in their attitude.”

The game did not start until 5 p.m., but Jimmy and Luke Catania were in full uniform a few years ago when they sat down for Sunday breakfast. Joe Catania soon heard from other parents that the same thing was happening in their homes.

For the Angels, Sunday became the highlight of the week. They couldn’t wait for the first pitch.

“They’re set up the week before to come right back and go again,” said Richard Chamovitz, whose son, Kyle, plays for the Angels. “They love it. As parents, it’s incredible to see it and experience it and have it be available for our kids.”

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Most of the Angels players attended high school until they turned 21. After that, it was hard to find a replacement for that social experience. The programs, Matt Catania said, become limited. That’s what the Angels provide.

They play games every Sunday from May to November and then practice through the winter.

“This is awesome,” said Sonny DiMartini. “I have a blast every time. I love it.”

The players are friends, even if they heckle each other during the game. There are no fees. Everything is provided.

“It’s so much fun to play with friends,” Jonathan Stanton said.

To win a baseball game, Joe Catania often told his players that they first had to win the “little games.” Win enough little games — move the runners, field the grounders, catch the pop-ups — and you’ll be OK.

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That’s the same for life, Matt Catania now tells the Angels. Win little games throughout the day — clean your room, do the dishes, take out the trash — and you’ll have a good day. For the Angels, it has always been more than just baseball.

“There’s a confidence that comes from this,” Chamovitz said. “That’s what translates. They know they’re doing something special and having a great time. They know that they can play ball. It’s not little-kid ball. It’s real ball, and they know they can do it. That carries through. Joe had a vision, and he made it happen without even imagining what it would become.”

A rain delay on Sunday in South Philly caused the Phillies’ game to end after the Angels’ had already started in Newtown Square. But Strahm still made it to Gable Park, rushing there from the Phillies clubhouse, as he often does.

“I love him,” Sonny DiMartini said. “He’s a nice guy, and he pitches good.”

Strahm brought the Angels to center field and showed them the new scoreboard. Ryan O’Hearn, who plays first base and outfield for the Baltimore Orioles and is represented by Donato, also helped pay for it.

O’Hearn, who has gotten to know the Angels, used a bat during last week’s MLB All-Star Game that was signed by the team. One of the Angels players commented on a social media post about the bat that O’Hearn was his friend. Donato sent it to O’Hearn and said it was cool that the player thought they were friends.

“Ryan wrote back, ‘They are my friends,’” Donato said. “He genuinely believes that.”

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Cole Hamels saw Matt Catania’s Instagram post in April about the opening day of Newtown-Edgemont Little League’s Challenger Day and asked what he could do. Just stop by, Catania said. Hamels stayed for every game.

A.J. Feeley, the former Eagles quarterback, heard that the Angels were going to be without a pitcher earlier this month because Catania had to coach his son’s team and Donato was going with O’Hearn to the All-Star Game. Feeley said he could do it.

“We’re not twisting their arms to be here,” Catania said. “We’re not begging them to be there. They want to be here.”

Strahm’s brother, Ben, pitched on Sunday, and his wife and daughter, who skipped the Phillies game on Saturday to attend Jimmy Catania’s birthday party, joined him.

“I love just going there and watching them play baseball,” Strahm said. “Their personalities are so black and white of right and wrong. It’s pure. It’s fun to be a part of.”

Strahm donated the scoreboard with little fanfare. There was no alert sent to the press to let them know. There were no TV cameras rolling. And that’s how Joe Catania used to operate, his son said. Catania did not want attention. He just did it.

And Joe Catania’s league now has a scoreboard — “GABLE PARK HOME OF THE ANGELS,” it says — thanks to a Phillies pitcher he never met but would have loved.

“It kills me that he’s missing this,” Matt Catania said.

Pam DiMartini interjected.

“He’s not,” she said.

And Catania nodded.

“I know,” he said. “I try to remind myself every Sunday. He showed us the way. It’s a simple game. Just keep it going. Don’t dwell on the negative. You can sit and dwell or you can honor him and keep going. That’s the choice we made. Keep going.”