Rizzo joining forces with Motte to benefit charity

MESA, Ariz. -- Anthony Rizzo is wearing a new T-shirt this spring that he hopes will help cancer patients across the country.

The Cubs first baseman has joined forces with the Cardinals' Jason Motte and his "Strike Out Cancer" movement. One player from each Major League team will promote the T-shirt -- which will be in that team's colors -- and $5 will go to Motte's foundation and $5 to the other player's charity of choice. That will definitely benefit Rizzo's foundation, which has already hosted two walk-a-thons in Florida and a celebrity "Cook-Off for Cancer" in Chicago.

"It's nice that he reached out," Rizzo said of Motte. "I saw the Cardinals wearing them last year, and I liked it because of the cancer angle."

Rizzo does have T-shirts promoting his foundation and has worn shirts given to him from cancer patients he has visited in hospitals. Rizzo is a cancer survivor himself, having been diagnosed with limited stage classic Hodgkins lymphoma in 2008.

"It's really cool that [Motte] is doing this and hopefully one day, my foundation can be as big as that," Rizzo said. "It helps mine, it just helps the cause. That's really the nicest part, that you can help out -- it doesn't matter if it's my foundation or someone else's. It's just to help the cause."

The Cubs version of the shirt is expected to be available for sale on www.108stitches.com later this month. Some Cubs fans apparently couldn't wait for the blue shirt and have purchased the red one now on the site.

"I have had Cubs fans tweeting me, 'Hey, man, I'm a Cubs fan, but my mother just got diagnosed with cancer and I'm showing my support for her,'" Motte told MLB.com.