New "Stars & Stripes" caps to be worn on July 4th

For the sixth consecutive year, 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 $23 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 the team's logo, with white or gray crowns and blue or red brims and buttons (the Toronto Blue Jays hat will once again incorporate a Maple Leaf design instead of the "Stars & Stripes").

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 post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) treatment to 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.