Groton — Vinnie Pallisco met former Major League Baseball player John McDonald for the second time on Wednesday at the 50th birthday celebration kickoff for the University of Connecticut-Avery Point.

The first time they met, Pallisco was 8 years old, waiting for a game to start at Yankee stadium and McDonald was playing for the Toronto Blue Jays. McDonald signed a baseball that Pallisco had brought from home as a boy.

"That was the coolest thing in the world," Pallisco recalled. Now a 19-year-old student from Sherman, he plays first base for UConn-Avery Point.

McDonald played 15 years in the major leagues, in a career highlighted by a World Series Championship with the Boston Red Sox in 2013. He visited the student center of his alma mater for the kickoff event to celebrate establishment of the campus in 1967.

McDonald played at UConn-Avery Point in 1993 and 1994, and was drafted by the Cleveland Indians. He spent a little more than three years in the minor leagues before achieving his dream of playing Major League Baseball in 1999. He went on to play for eight teams before retiring in 2014, and was inducted into the UConn-Avery Point Sports Hall of Fame on Feb. 3, 2012.

"I love coming back to Avery Point. I always did, even after I left in 1994," he said. He liked that the campus was small and he got to know people. "We used to work out up on the lawn by Branford House," he said. "It's a special place."

The kickoff event offered something special for students, but events will continue throughout the year and include the larger community and region, campus director Annemarie Seifert said. Wednesday was the second day of classes for students after winter break.

Students finished the anniversary cake in 35 minutes, helped themselves to a candy bar and stuffed doll-like Huskies as part of the celebration.

Sawyer McCrabb, an 18-year-old student from East Lyme, won a baseball signed by McDonald. "I'm going to cherish it for a long time," he said. "I'm going to keep it as a memento almost, of Avery Point."

Luke Sorenson, a 21-year-old student from Middletown and pitcher for UConn-Avery Point, tried on McDonald's World Series ring. Sorenson wears a No. 11 jersey, the same number McDonald wore as a student.

"Oh my God, it was the best thing," Sorenson said of meeting McDonald. "We're on the baseball team, and he played here and then he went big. And the ring is huge." Sorenson had his picture taken with McDonald, took a picture of the ring and had a baseball signed.

"It's amazing," he said. "I remember watching him play. It's crazy."

d.straszheim@theday.com