About BLUE for Kids Program

Major League Baseball umpires and lovable team mascots provide furry friends, clothing and accessories from Build-A-Bear Workshop® for children with cancer and other serious illnesses. Each event includes a supply of pre-stuffed Build-A-Bear® furry friends, various outfits, cub condos, birth certificates and baseball-themed stress balls. In 2023, UMPS CARE recorded a special milestone by delivering our 20,000th furry friend to a child undergoing treatment in the hospital.

About BLUE Crew Ticket Program

Starting in 2006 with a visit with an umpire and his "little" brother from Big Brothers Big Sisters, this program has grown into an annual tradition of inviting youth-based organizations and military families to the ballpark for VIP visits with the MLB umpires! Each participant gets to spend time before the game meeting the MLB umpire crew and learning about the job, in addition to receiving goody bags packed with Giant Snacks sunflower seeds, Topps baseball cards, chips, candy and more! Of course, each participant receives tickets to the game and a Visa gift card to use toward concessions. The memories last a lifetime! More than 9,000 guests have walked through the turnstiles at ballparks, and this program has expanded to Triple-A and Class AA ballparks!

About All-Star Scholarship Program

Education is an important part of life. In baseball terms, it gives you a healthy lead as you round the bases. Not everyone gets the same opportunity for higher education. The UMPS CARE Charities All-Star Scholarship was created for children adopted later in life in order to help provide a college education for promising students with a financial need. Every year, two recipients are selected to receive $10,000 per year toward college costs ($40,000 over four years!) To help ensure their long-term success, each student is paired with an MLB Umpire mentor and becomes a part of the UMPS CARE Family. More than $350,000 has been awarded since the program’s inception, and we are proud to share that we have had a 100 percent graduation rate since 2015!

About Official Leadership Program

UMPS CARE Charities launched the Official Leadership Program in 2021 to encourage, train and mentor teens to become working umpires. The course includes Social Emotional Learning in the classroom with a focus on leadership, financial literacy and mentorship, as well as umpiring skills and mechanics taught on the field. This year we will host our program in the following cities: Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Compton, Dallas, Des Moines, Houston, Philadelphia and Phoenix with mini-clinics in other cities!

About Sports Officials Care

Sports officials have been giving back to the community for years but never before have referees and umpires from all levels of sports come together with the combined goal of making a difference.

In 2006, MLB Umpires started their own non-profit organization, and soon, officials from other leagues took notice. Small conversations turned into bigger ones, and now, a collective effort is underway to make a greater impact.

With a shortage of officials in all sports and the rise of physical and verbal abuse, officials know the time is now to strengthen and inspire the next generation of sports officials and to make positive change in the community.

There is a saying that teamwork makes the dream work, and Sports Officials Care is all about that mantra – making the right call in the officiating community and the community at large.

Learn more at SportsOfficialsCare.org.