Major League Baseball has announced the 2018 Honorary Bat Girls for each MLB Club in support of the annual "Going To Bat Against Breast Cancer" initiative, which is traditionally commemorated each Mother's Day. For the first time since the Honorary Bat Girl program's start in 2009, Clubs had the opportunity to hand-select their respective honorees, each of whom have demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to battling breast cancer. The Pittsburgh Pirates today will celebrate two Honorary Bat Girls at PNC Park as Dana Gorajewski from Wexford and Jocelyn Blystone from Pittsburgh will be honored pregame.
Gorajewski is happy to be able to celebrate Mother's Day this year after a yearlong battle with Stage 2, Triple Negative Breast Cancer. Enduring seven months of chemotherapy treatments and three surgeries, she is proud to say that she is a Cancer Survivor. The 44-year-old mother of two, Gavin (age 8) and Lyden (age 6), lives in Wexford and is a huge Pirates fan.
Blystone is a teacher in the South Fayette School District as well as an area Zumba instructor who was diagnosed with breast cancer on January 18, 2018. The 31-year-old mother of one is currently receiving treatment and the Pirates are excited to have her and her family in attendance today.
During games on Mother's Day, players will wear newly designed caps highlighted by a pink crown and team color brim, while Club uniforms will feature a pink ribbon on the left chest.
A matching pair of pink socks is optional for every player. During batting practice and in the dugouts throughout Sunday's games, players and managers can also wear new, grey, lightweight hoodies emblazoned with their Club's wordmark and the MLB logo in a matching pink design. MLB players will continue to have the opportunity to use pink bats during Mother's Day games. Louisville Slugger, the Official Bat of Major League Baseball, will donate proceeds from the sale of their pink bats, which will be stamped with the MLB breast cancer awareness logo, to Susan G. Komen and Stand Up To Cancer.
In addition to the pink bats on Mother's Day, the following game equipment can be used for breast cancer awareness: pink compression sleeves, pink batting gloves, pink footwear, pink wrist/elbow/leg guards and catcher's equipment. Since 2006, players have swung pink bats, worn pink ribbon decals and sported pink wristbands through the "Going To Bat Against Breast Cancer" initiative, which is intended to raise awareness and, through donations and auction proceeds, funds to fight breast cancer. MLB will again donate its licensed uniform royalties through Mother's Day apparel to Susan G. Komen and Stand Up To Cancer.
The Honorary Bat Girl program was introduced in 2009 to raise additional awareness and support for the annual "Going to Bat Against Breast Cancer" initiative celebrated on Mother's Day. Going to Bat Against Breast Cancer is a Major League Baseball initiative supported by MLB charitable partners, Stand Up To Cancer and Susan G. Komen. This initiative raises awareness about the breast cancer cause, while also raising funds to support breast cancer research. For more information, please visit HonoraryBatGirl.com.