MLB clubs to showcase national pride with new "Stars & Stripes" caps on Independence Day

For the seventh year in a row, MLB Clubs will wear specially designed "Stars & Stripes" caps from New Era on Independence Day as part of Major League Baseball's ongoing fundraising and awareness initiatives for Welcome Back Veterans, which addresses the needs of returning veterans and their families.

Major League Baseball has committed $30 million to Welcome Back Veterans (welcomebackveterans.org) since its inception in 2008, and will once again donate 100% of its net proceeds from sales of the caps to Welcome Back Veterans as part of its contribution to the program. The caps will have the American flag etched into a star behind the team's white primary logo, with red or blue crowns and the alternative on the brims and buttons.

Welcome Back Veterans, an initiative of Major League Baseball Charities and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, provides grants to university hospitals throughout the country that provide posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) research and treatment for veterans and their families in a public/private partnership.

Currently, Welcome Back Veterans is funding programs at Weill Cornell Medical College, The University of Michigan, Rush University Medical Center, Duke University, Emory University, UCLA and the Boston Red Sox' Home Base Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. These institutions are developing new programs and strategies to improve the quality, quantity and access to PTSD and TBI treatment for veterans, particularly those returning from duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Toronto Blue Jays cap will once again feature a Maple Leaf design, incorporating the colors of the Canadian flag and will be worn on Canada Day, July 1, as well as July 4.