Major League Baseball and New York Mets to commemorate lasting legacy for New York City and beyond throughout MLB All-Star Week

Major League Baseball and the New York Mets will commemorate the Midsummer Classic by creating a lasting legacy for New York City with a series of projects that will be unveiled throughout MLB All-Star Week.

The efforts include the following: renovation projects in Queens for youth baseball and softball fields, a veterans home and a local Boys & Girls Club; a Brownsville, Brooklyn public school courtyard that will be used for educational, recreational and environmental programs; a benefit concert in Central Park; a charity run in Prospect Park; and donations to the Wheelchair Sports Federation and Coney Island Hospital. As a complement to the Midsummer celebration of Baseball and the New York Mets, the events and initiatives will support Sandy recovery efforts, honor veterans, impact the lives of underserved and special needs youth, support cancer research, and highlight the importance of safety and environmental consciousness. Community events throughout Queens and Brooklyn will begin on Thursday, July 11th and continue through Tuesday, July 16th - the day of the 84th MLB All-Star Game at Citi Field, airing LIVE on FOX.

A variety of New York Mets legends will participate in community events throughout All-Star Week including George Foster, John Franco, Dwight Gooden, Cleon Jones, Dave Kingman, Ed Kranepool, Barry Lyons and Rusty Staub.

MLB and the Mets will donate more than $5 million, through MLB Charities and the New York Mets Foundation, toward local All-Star projects in the New York Metropolitan area and also to support national charitable initiatives, including Stand Up to Cancer, Prostate Cancer Foundation, Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI), Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and Make-A-Wish, among others. Since 1997, MLB has donated more than $57 million in All-Star charitable contributions.

Below is brief background information on the All-Star Week Community Activities, including a chronological schedule of events:

Sandy Relief Efforts
Major League Baseball is dedicating Saturday, July 13th to raising funds to benefit Sandy relief efforts:

- MLB All-Star 5K & Fun Run benefiting Sandy Relief presented by Nike (Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY) - Participants will run and walk on an All-Star-themed course that begins and ends in Prospect Park in Brooklyn, featuring appearances by MLB legends, mascots and celebrity guests. Fans can still register for the event at AllStarGame.com/Run.
- MLB All-Star Charity Concert benefiting Sandy Relief (Great Lawn, Central Park, New York NY) - The 2013 MLB All-Star Charity Concert benefiting Sandy Relief will star Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic with a special guest appearance by multiple Grammy Award winner Mariah Carey. The concert, which will be free to fans, but requires each attendee to have a ticket, will take place on the iconic Great Lawn at Central Park beginning at 7:30PM. Blockbuster, Chevrolet, MasterCard and Pepsi are providing sponsorship support to the All-Star Charity Concert.
- In conjunction with the concert and run, Major League Baseball will donate more than $1 million for Sandy Relief efforts to the Robin Hood Relief Fund and the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City.
- All-Star Legacy funds also went toward supporting City Harvest's fleet of refrigerated trucks, which were damaged during Sandy, and to helping feed New Yorkers in need.

Thursday, July 11th
- O'Donohue Park Field Renovation (Far Rockaway, NY) - MLB and the Mets will renovate a youth baseball field at O'Donohue Park, which will then be made available with assistance of local council members, to area youth baseball and softball leagues that were affected by Sandy. O'Donohue Park renovations include new infield mix, regrading of skinned infield and grass outfield to facilitate drainage, amending of existing soil, new sod, and a new irrigation system. This project was supported by The Scotts Company, the official lawn care company of Major League Baseball.
- Starlight Fun Center Dedication (Coney Island Hospital, Coney Island, NY) - MLB and the Mets, in partnership with Starlight Children's Foundation, will unveil a new Fun Center mobile entertainment unit containing the latest gaming system that rolls bedside in hospitals to provide distractive entertainment and therapeutic play for pediatric patients at Coney Island Hospital.

Friday, July 12th
- Challenger-Champions Game (Citi Field, Flushing, NY) - Special needs children from Little League's Challenger and PONY Baseball/Softball Champions divisions will play a one-inning game on the outfield grass at Citi Field, with the help of volunteers from the Mets.
- Boys & Girls Club of Metro Queens Topping Off Ceremony (Richmond Hill, NY) - MLB and the Mets will participate in a beam-signing ceremony to commemorate a new 3,000 square foot Teen Center and Café, which will be constructed, with assistance from Magical Builders, as part of an overall $11 million capital improvement program being undertaken by the Boys & Girls Club of Metro Queens.
- Jr. RBI Classic Opening Ceremonies & Hinton Park Field Renovations (Hinton Park, Flushing, NY) - The official start of the fifth annual friendly, round-robin tournament will take place at the newly renovated Hinton Park. The tournament is designed to provide hundreds of young Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) baseball and softball players an opportunity to participate in MLB All-Star Week. The tournament consists of eight baseball and four softball teams of 11-12 year olds from around the United States, including several local programs from Harlem (NY), Hartford (CT) and Newark (NJ). Opening ceremonies will be held at Hinton Park, the site of two youth baseball/softball fields renovated thanks to MLB All-Star Legacy funding and the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation.

Sunday, July 14th
- Wheelchair Sports Federation Donation Ceremony (Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, T-Mobile All-Star FanFest, New York, NY) - MLB and the Mets will hold a ceremony on "The Diamond sponsored by T-Mobile" at T-Mobile All-Star FanFest to commemorate their donation of 25 sports wheelchairs for adaptive athletes who participate in Wheelchair Sports Federation activities.

Monday, July 15th
- MLB All-Star Rebuilding Together Project (St. Albans Community Living Center, Jamaica, Queens) - As an extension of MLB's commitment to supporting Veterans and their families, especially through the Welcome Back Veterans initiative (WelcomeBackVeterans.org), renovations were made, in partnership with national non-profit Rebuilding Together, at the VA Harbor Healthcare System's (VANYHHS) St. Albans Community Living Center for an outdoor space that residents can use year-round. The Living Center provides health care and support services to area Veterans, in addition to serving as a home and rehabilitation facility. This project was supported by Bank of America, the official bank of Major League Baseball, and Scotts Miracle-Gro. In addition to providing volunteers to help with the renovations and hosting a luncheon for residents of the facility, Bank of America will donate $75,000 to the project.

Tuesday, July 16th
- FirstStepNYC Renovation Project (PS/IS 41 in Brownsville, Brooklyn, NY) - MLB, the Mets and the City of New York will unveil a newly-renovated outdoor space at PS/IS 41, to be used by both the K-*8 elementary school and FirstStepNYC, a new, innovative center for birth-5 education that will be launched by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Department of Education, and the Administration for Children's Services. Inspired by the visionary program Educare, FirstStepNYC will provide high quality early childhood services for at-risk children ages six-weeks to five-years-old, starting this September. The state-of-the-art birth-5 center will be run by SCO Family of Services, a local community based organization, co-located within PS/IS 41, a K-8 elementary school in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, and will include the City's first-ever Leadership Institute for current and aspiring early childhood directors. The protected play-space for preschoolers and kindergarteners is located within an interior courtyard at the school and also features a green area for gardening and science activities and a reading literacy corner to be used by children in both the birth-5 center and the K-8 school. Magical Builders assisted with this project, which was also supported by Scotts Miracle-Gro.

MLB & 'PEOPLE' Magazine "Tribute for Heroes"
- Major League Baseball and 'PEOPLE' magazine will recognize veterans and military service members through the "Tribute for Heroes" campaign. This effort builds upon the commitment of both MLB and 'PEOPLE' to honoring our country's heroes. One "hero" from each of the 30 MLB Clubs will be included in All-Star Week festivities, including being recognized during the pre-game ceremony of the All-Star Game.

Additional Activities
- The Baseball Tomorrow Fund and the New York Mets Foundation awarded more than $283,000 in grants to organizations directly impacted by Sandy to provide support to maintain or re-establish youth baseball and softball programs and/or facilities. Through this joint initiative, 14 organizations were supported, affecting more than 6,300 children. Prior to the 2013 SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game at Citi Field, children representing nine of the Sandy relief grant recipients will be introduced as part of an on-field ceremony.
- MLB will host one of this year's Breaking Barriers Essay Contest grand prize winners, Luke Lunday, a fifth grader from West Point, NY, whose winning essay was chosen from 18,700 entries from across the country and Canada.
- MLB will host seven young people with life-threatening medical conditions from Make-A-Wish whose wish is to attend the MLB All-Star Game.
- MLB will partner with TEAM (Techniques for Effective Alcohol Management) Coalition to promote responsible alcohol education through a FanFest attraction and designated driver recognition during the MLB All-Star Game.
- Anheuser-Busch, celebrating their 31st anniversary of promoting alcohol responsibility, will support this effort through their "Good Sport" program. The program will be highlighted throughout Citi Field and MLB Sponsor Zone with kiosks reminding fans to drink responsibly. In MLB ballparks in 2012, a record of more than 460,000 baseball fans pledged to be designated drivers.
- MLB and Rock and Wrap It Up! have worked together for the past seven All-Star Weeks to arrange for the recovery of food, prepared but not served or sold, to feed members of the local community in need. This year, food will be recovered from a number of events including the 84th MLB All-Star Game at Citi Field. Currently, Rock and Wrap It Up! works with more than 70 sports franchises, including 21 MLB Clubs, and estimates that sports-generated recovered food feeds more than 6,000 people each week across the United States and Canada.

Environmental Efforts
The 2013 MLB All-Star Week will build on the continued commitment to the environment by Major League Baseball and the partnership with Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) by incorporating a wide variety of environmentally-sensitive efforts, including:
- MLB will host seven young people with life-threatening medical conditions from Make-A-Wish whose wish is to attend the MLB All-Star Game.
- Raising awareness about the importance of "going green" via public service announcements in-stadium and environmental education materials online (MLB.com/green);
- An All-Star Green Team of volunteers circulating at Citi Field during in-stadium events to collect recyclables from fans;
- Prioritizing recycling and composting of materials at events throughout MLB All-Star Week;
- Addressing energy and water usage through efficiency measures and by investing in renewable energy offsets and water restoration credits.

For more information, please visit allstargame.com or mets.com/2013.

About the 2013 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
The 84th Major League Baseball All-Star Game will be played on Tuesday, July 16th in New York City and will feature the best of the American League taking on the top players of the National League. Building up to the excitement of the All-Star Game, Major League Baseball will conduct a wide variety of special events and charitable activities for fans both inside and outside of Citi Field. At the ballpark, the events will include Taco Bell All-Star Sunday on July 14th featuring the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game and the Taco Bell All-Star Legends & Celebrity Softball Game, and Gatorade All-Star Workout Day on Monday, July 15th featuring the Chevrolet Home Run Derby on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN Radio. Outside of the ballpark, fans will have an opportunity to experience All-Star Week through a variety of special events including T-Mobile All-Star FanFest, the five-day interactive fan festival; the MLB All-Star 5K & Fun Run benefiting Sandy Relief presented by Nike, a charity run/walk on a baseball-themed route to benefit Robin Hood Relief Fund and Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City; and the MLB All-Star Red Carpet Show presented by Chevrolet, a free procession of All-Stars through the streets of Manhattan. The Midsummer Classic will be televised nationally on FOX, broadcast on ESPN Radio and will be shown around the world by Major League Baseball International. For more information about 2013 All-Star Summer, visit AllStarGame.com.