Players will wear red, white and blue caps to commemorate day
All Major League Baseball players on this Fourth of July -- and then later for all Sept. 11 games -- will be wearing a very stylish and very symbolic Stars & Stripes baseball cap. Many of those New Era caps will show up sweaty and game-used at the MLB.com Auction to help a great cause in the weeks ahead.
It is all part of Friday's grandiose -- and often emotional -- celebration for returning troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, the next step in the "Welcome Back Veterans" national fundraising and awareness campaign that was announced jointly last week by Major League Baseball, MLB Advanced Media and the McCormick Foundation.
All home teams over this weekend will be host to ceremonies honoring veterans in their community, with veterans throwing out first pitches. For games on the Fourth, "Welcome Back Veterans" will adorn the bases and ceremonial home plates. There will be custom lineup cards, with a place for a local veteran to place his or her signature. Among many fundraising activities, each MLB club will auction off a set of bases, game-worn caps and a specially designed team jersey to benefit Welcome Back Veterans.
It's not a war rally or demonstration, it's a tangible way of starting to really help those who are going to need it -- returning troops and their families. This is an apolitical initiative in the interest of helping some people who, according to one staff sergeant interviewed by MLB.com, "just wanted to get back home." Just consider how it will feel at Chase Field in Arizona, where the National Anthem will be performed by Jessica Schall, whose brother Army Sergeant Kenneth Schall was killed in Iraq during May 2005. Think that song will mean anything?
"Major League Baseball considers it both an obligation and a privilege to assist our troops in any way we can," said MLB president Bob DuPuy, a veteran who served a year in Vietnam and received the Army Commendation Medal for his service. "Welcome Back Veterans was created to help our brave men and women make a successful transition to civilian life when their service to their country has ended. We ask that all Major League Baseball fans join us on the July Fourth weekend and on September 11 in this grand-scale effort to raise funds and bring awareness to this vital cause."
"I congratulate Major League Baseball on this extraordinary act of compassion for our troops throughout our Independence Day weekend," said General David L. Grange, retired U.S. Army brigadier general and president and CEO of the McCormick Foundation. "With Welcome Back Veterans, Major League Baseball is providing financial support and, just as importantly, shining a light on the challenges facing our returning men and women of the armed forces."
Everywhere you look, there will be examples of this support. All of them can't be listed in this space, but MLB.com will have live coverage of the Welcome Back Veterans activities at every home ballpark on this day. In Cincinnati, all active-duty military members can get in free -- and the Reds' players will be wearing camouflage jerseys Saturday and Sunday.
In Philadelphia, where the Phillies will be hosting the Mets, a 16-foot by 10.5-foot flag will be unveiled before the game by impersonators of Betsy Ross and Ben Franklin. The flag will be on display in Ashburn Alley the rest of the weekend. Fifty state flags, plus P.O.W. flags, will be presented on the field, and Col. Mark Ferrara, commanding officer of Stryker Force, will throw out the ceremonial first pitch.
In San Francisco, it will be a rare 1:05 p.m. PT start for a Giants home game. It begins a three-game series against the rival Dodgers, and the first 30,000 fans in attendance receive American flags.
In Atlanta, a truly spectacular homestand slate of patriotism hits a crescendo with Friday's postgame "Salute to America Fireworks Spectacular," presented by Publix Super Markets. It will feature a dazzling display of pyrotechnics, choreographed to patriotic music, that will light up the Atlanta skyline in red, white and blue. Serving as the Braves' Honorary Team Captain for the evening's game against Houston will be Capt. Joseph Anthony, of Richmond, Va., a 16-year veteran of the U.S. Army. Anthony, a decorated soldier, is currently serving in Iraq, and was scheduled to return home to the States shortly before Independence Day.
It's much the same spirit everywhere else at home ballparks for this holiday. And those hats are what most people will especially notice as the theme, whether watching on TV or in person. Exact versions of those caps are available at the MLB.com Shop, and a portion of those proceeds also go to Welcome Back Veterans.
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