MLB announces winners of the 2015 Honorary Bat Girl Contest in advance of Mother's Day
One fan per club will be honored as part of both mother's day and breast cancer awareness recognitions in MLB ballparks
Major League Baseball today announced the winners of the 2015 Honorary Bat Girl Contest, which recognizes baseball fans who have been affected by breast cancer and who demonstrate a commitment to eradicating the disease. Winners selected to represent each of the 30 MLB Clubs will be recognized on-field at Major League ballparks on Mother's Day, Sunday, May 10th, or on an alternative date for clubs that are away.
Fans from across the country and Canada shared inspirational stories that provide hope and motivation in the fight against breast cancer, as well as the reasons they or their nominees should represent their favorite team. The complete list of winners is located in the below chart and each of the winners' stories can be found on HonoraryBatGirl.com.
During MLB's annual Mother's Day national day of recognition, the Honorary Bat Girl winners will take part in pre-game activities, be honored during an on-field ceremony and receive pink MLB merchandise with two tickets to the game. For clubs that are away on Mother's Day, another home game later in May will be selected to recognize their Honorary Bat Girl.
On Mother's Day, players and on-field personnel will wear the symbolic pink ribbon on their uniforms along with pink wrist bands. Commemorative base jewels and dugout lineup cards also will be pink. Games will feature a pink-stitched Rawlings baseball, the official ball of MLB, as the official game ball. Many MLB players also will use pink bats, and pink Louisville Slugger bats, the Official Bat of Major League Baseball, will be stamped with the MLB breast cancer awareness logo. Many authenticated, game-used Louisville Slugger pink bats from Mother's Day games will be auctioned exclusively on MLB.com to benefit the fight against breast 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. In seven years, thousands of unique testimonials have been submitted and more than 2 million fan votes have been cast. 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.
Following is the list of all 2015 Honorary Bat Girl Contest winners (Clubs in alphabetical order; * = Home on Mother's Day):
CLUB | CONTEST WINNER | HOMETOWN |
Arizona Diamondbacks* | Barbara Nicholl | Mesa, AZ |
Atlanta Braves | Tracy Chitwood | Hampton, GA |
Baltimore Orioles | Sara Tresselt | Jefferson, MD |
Boston Red Sox | Heather Morse | Shirley, MA |
Chicago Cubs | Ginny Cooper | Columbus, OH |
Chicago White Sox* | Jody Huffmaster | Lyons, IL |
Cincinnati Reds | Melissa Rupert | Liberty Township, OH |
Cleveland Indians* | Alecia Dennis | Columbus, OH |
Colorado Rockies* | Mary Dabbs | Fruita, CO |
Detroit Tigers* | Heidi Westphal | Saginaw, MI |
Miami Marlins | Missy Gotay-Cano | Miami, FL |
Houston Astros | Donna Rodgers | Point, MS |
Kansas City Royals | Michelle Mueller-Hinton | Grain Valley, MO |
Los Angeles Angels* | Deborah Chaple | Riverside, CA |
Los Angeles Dodgers | Clara Gonzales | Los Angeles, CA |
Milwaukee Brewers* | Johanna Kretschmer | Burlington, WI |
Minnesota Twins | Julie Gross | Duluth, MN |
New York Mets | Marybeth Matyasik | Cicero, NY |
New York Yankees* | Rebecca Doolen | Utica, NY |
Oakland Athletics | Michelle Iwai | Milpitas, CA |
Philadelphia Phillies* | Roni Storti | Trappe, PA |
Pittsburgh Pirates* | Kate Crawford | Belle Vernon, PA |
San Diego Padres | Ana Muñoz | San Diego, CA |
San Francisco Giants* | Sue Young | Richmond, CA |
Seattle Mariners* | Kathleen Sutton | Seattle, WA |
St. Louis Cardinals | Kathy Bumeter | Wildwood, MO |
Tampa Bay Rays* | Dorothy Campbell | New Port Richey, FL |
Texas Rangers | Lee Ann Evans | Lubbock, TX |
Toronto Blue Jays* | Stacie Bergwerff | Ottawa, ON |
Washington Nationals* | Tracy Lustig | Alexandria, VA |