Major League Baseball and the March of Dimes
March of Dimes associations with major league baseball date back at least to 1945, when Basil O’Connor (President, National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis) met Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth at the Esquire Magazine All-American Boy’s Baseball Game at the Polo Grounds in New York City on August 28, 1945. Ty Cobb was manager of the East team; Babe Ruth was manager of the West team; and the fact that these bitter rivals consented to have photographs taken together is in itself a rare circumstance. It is not known whether this event (the second annual Esquire game) was also sponsored by the NFIP somehow, but the presence of Basil O’Connor with Cobb and Ruth suggests a March of Dimes tie-in.
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| Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth and Basil O'Connor. August 28, 1945 |
Other significant associations of major league baseball and the March of Dimes include the following:
Joe DiMaggio posed for photographs with the first March of Dimes national poster child Donald Anderson in Central Park, New York City in 1946. DiMaggio later supported the March of Dimes in 1970, posing for photos with Marty Mim Mack, 1970 poster child, at a golfing event in Florida.
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| Joe DiMaggio posing with Marty Mim Mack |
The children of Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella (video) posed in a March of Dimes photo session, “Polio Don’ts” to instruct children about safe practices relating to the transmission of the poliovirus. Jackie Robinson is well known for breaking the racial barrier in professional baseball, but Roy Campanella had a role in this as well. Both men played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, and Campanella led the way for African-American players, especially catchers, against discrimination.
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| Jackie Robinson, 1954 |
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| Jackie Robinson's children. |
Baseball centerfielder Willie Mays of the New York Giants goes to bat for the March of Dimes at the Polo Grounds in New York. Known as the “Say Hey Kid,” Willie Mays won Most Valuable Player on two occasions and was widely admired for his brilliant playing and showmanship. Many New Yorkers were chagrined when the Giants moved to San Francisco in 1957.
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| Willie Mays, 1954. |
Baseball players often joined March of Dimes fund-raisers in contests other than baseball. Members of the Brooklyn Dodgers often participated in an annual bowling fund-raiser at the State Bowling Alley in Brooklyn in the 1950s; and NY Yankees star Phil Rizzuto hosted the March of Dimes Celebrity Golf Classic in 1985.
Both professional baseball leagues officially participated in annual March of Dimes campaigns for polio beginning in 1955. On the third annual drive in 1957, the American League president, William Harridge, and the National League president, Warren C. Giles, publicly supported the March of Dimes, garnering the support of the minor leagues and other amateur and semi-pro groups.
By the 1960s, July Fourth had become the official “March of Dimes Baseball Day.” Sportscasters Bob Considine and Red Smith were our national volunteer Sports Co-chairman; they enlisted the major and minor leagues, little leagues, and American Legion and Pony Leagues to stage exhibition games and arrange audience collections and other fund-raising “stunts” (as they were called at the time) for July 4th events. Bob Considine headed our National Sports Council from the early 1950s.
Apart from major league involvement other baseball fund-raisers have included the chapter-organized “Snowball Softball,” a winter softball tournament played in the snow (1982-1986) and a special event, the Happy Days Classic, in which stars from TV’s Happy Days played the Phoenix Media All Stars on October 9, 1983 in Phoenix, Arizona.
The March of Dimes Sports Award has gone to at least two professional baseball players: John Hart of the Cleveland Indians (1996) and Larry Kierker of the Houston Astros (2000). The Detroit Tigers’ “Tiger Wives Association” has also supported the March of Dimes.
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| Joe Girardi, Manager New York Yankees. April 24, 2016 |
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| C.C. Sabathia, Pitcher New York Yankees. December 4, 2019 |
Today we're supporting @MarchofDimes! Joe Girardi will wear their tshirt to help every baby have a fighting chance pic.twitter.com/XooTDOqPVd
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 23, 2016
