Major League Baseball recognized "Childhood Cancer Awareness Day" on Saturday, but with the Phillies on the road, they are planning to bring further attention to the cause on Tuesday, when they host a seven-inning doubleheader against the Red Sox at Citizens Bank Park.
The Phils already placed special cardboard cutouts behind home plate of the faces of children in the Delaware Valley who are either currently battling or previously battled cancer. The cutouts will be there throughout the month of September. The Phillies broadcast will also be featuring a “Courageous Kid of the Night” on the telecast.
Some of Philadelphia's front-office employees have appeared in a promotional music video, holding up a sign with the names of children who have either already battled or are currently battling childhood cancer. Employees also wrote get-well-soon cards to children currently battling cancer. Six-year-old Jaxson Butkus did the artwork for the penpal cards.
For the fifth consecutive year, MLB and its clubs raised awareness for childhood cancer during Saturday’s games for a special league-wide day in home ballparks. MLB’s “Childhood Cancer Awareness Day,” held during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in collaboration with Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C), combined a visual and ceremonial demonstration of support for the cause with outreach to local hospitals treating young patients in their communities. Childhood cancer is the leading cause of death by disease among children in the United States and Canada.
The Phillies joined all on-field personnel, including players, coaches and umpires around baseball in wearing gold ribbon decals and wristbands during Saturday's game against the Mets. Clubs also featured ceremonial activities in ballparks. Club activities included pregame ceremonies, cardboard cutouts of pediatric patients in stands at ballparks, virtual patient first pitches, virtual player hospital visits and more.
Childhood cancer awareness efforts in previous seasons have included special pediatric cancer awareness batting-practice T-shirts, online campaigns to empower fans to hold fundraisers for pediatric cancer research and donations to local children’s hospitals. MLB and its clubs have supported the fight against cancer through a variety of initiatives for many years. As Stand Up To Cancer’s founding donor, Major League Baseball has pledged more than $50 million to SU2C’s collaborative cancer research programs, providing invaluable support. Launched in 2013, the work of the Stand Up To Cancer/St. Baldrick’s Foundation Pediatric Cancer Dream Team has helped to develop new immunotherapy approaches and contributed to the development of two new treatments for difficult-to-treat pediatric leukemias that have been approved by the FDA. MLB has recognized SU2C at its jewel events since the '09 World Series.