Major League Baseball umpires will offer up close to 130 items including priceless autographed sports memorabilia, rarely available specialty MLB logo caps and experiences during its 12th Annual UMPS CARE Charities Online Auction. The auction, hosted on MLB.com, begins Thursday at 10 a.m. ET and closes on Thursday, Sept. 17, at 10 p.m. EDT. The auction can be found at mlb.com/UmpsCare.
The auction features signed baseballs from everyone from Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. to Bob Uecker, who autographed a specially made baseball to commemorate his 50th season in the booth. Celebrity signed baseballs also come from PGA golfer Rickie Fowler Women’s World Cup Soccer Champion Mallory Pugh and, of course, MLB umpires!
Also up for bid is an archives tour of the National Baseball Hall of Fame - complete with a round of golf and dinner - hard-to-find bobbleheads, a two-night stay at Treasure Island in Las Vegas and more! Great UMPS CARE Charities logo apparel, featuring our signature baseball heart, is available to show your support for our programs and our cause.
“The online auction is one of the biggest fundraising initiatives for UMPS CARE Charities and has grown tremendously,” said UMPS CARE Charities president Gary Darling, who served as a Major League umpire for nearly three decades. “We encourage fans to tell all of their friends and family to check out the available items on MLB.com and bid generously to help support a great cause in UMPS CARE Charities.”
Proceeds from the online auction support UMPS CARE Charities programs which provide once-in-a-lifetime Major League Baseball experiences for critically ill kids, at-risk youth and military families, Build-A-Bear Workshop® experiences for children battling serious illnesses at hospitals in the United States and Canada, and college scholarships for deserving young adults who were adopted later in life. UMPS CARE Charities is the official philanthropy of Major League Baseball umpires.
For more information or to make a bid, visit www.mlb.com/UmpsCare.