Holland named 2013 winner of Sundberg Award

ARLINGTON -- Pitcher Derek Holland has been named the 2013 winner of the Jim Sundberg Community Achievement Award, the Rangers announced Wednesday.

The announcement was made on the same day Holland announced he is donating $10,000 each to the Children's Medical Center Dallas and Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth. The donations will be made in conjunction with the Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation.

"I am very proud to be able to make these contributions to Children's Medical Center Dallas and Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth," Holland said. "The health of children is an important issue to me and I am happy to help these two great health-care facilities that make such a difference in the lives of young people."

Children's Medical Center Dallas will use the donation to purchase iPads that will be used by the facility's Child Life specialists and volunteers with patients in the Pauline Allen Gill Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders. The iPads will be equipped with age-appropriate games, art, and interactive videos for use of the patients, many of whom must remain in isolation and are unable to join in group activities.

Holland's donation will enable Cook Children's Medical Center to help furnish a playroom for patients that will house child-size hospital furniture and equipment. Items for the playroom will include MRI/CT scanner, stretchers, IV poles, OR lights, exam table, X-ray viewing screen, hospital bedside tables, wheelchair, wagon, storage cabinet, white board, and stools as well as toys and other medical equipment. Holland previously donated toys, video games, and movies to Cook Children's Medical Center as part of team's annual hospital visit in December 2012.

The Jim Sundberg Community Achievement Award has been presented annually since 1989 to a member of the Rangers organization who has made a significant impact off the field in the community.

Holland served as the spokesperson for the Texas Rangers MCA Fitness All Stars in 2012-13 and the 2011-12 Rangers annual toy drives benefiting Cowboy Santas. In 2011-12, Holland teamed with the City of Arlington's Police and Fire chiefs in a public awareness campaign to promote "Keep Your Thumbs on the Wheel". He has also made donations to the Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation each of the last two years as well as provided funds to the Baseball Tomorrow Fund for use by the West Legacy Foundation and Southeast Arlington Little League.

The Newark, Ohio, native has also made donations to his hometown high school baseball team to purchase a pitching machine and new uniforms and refurbish Newark High's baseball field.

Holland will receive his award at the 2014 Dr Pepper Texas Rangers Awards Dinner on Friday, Jan. 24, at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center in Grapevine. Tickets for the dinner are $75 and can be purchased at texasrangers.com/awards. Net proceeds will benefit the Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation.