WILL FERRELL TO PLAY FOR REDS TOMORROW

GOODYEAR, Arizona - The Cincinnati Reds today announced actor Will Ferrell will be at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick tomorrow, participating in a once-in-a-lifetime role for the lifelong baseball fan, as production begins on a new special from Funny Or Die, in partnership with Major League Baseball, to air exclusively on HBO later this year.

The Reds will play the Diamondbacks at 2:10 p.m. local time Thursday.

Dedicating the project to the fight against cancer, Ferrell also is honoring the historic feat by Bert Campaneris five decades ago by playing every position on the field, and maybe some off the field, for 10 teams in the same day.

"We support this event not only because it is generating money and awareness for cancer charities, but it's a great way for our game to reach, through HBO, a huge audience," said Reds President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Walt Jocketty. "Our players are very familiar with Will and his movies, and I think they are looking forward to having him on our team."

A list of the games at which Ferrell will be playing is below (all times Pacific):

12:05 p.m. - Seattle Mariners at Oakland Athletics (HoHoKam Stadium)
1:10 p.m. - Chicago Cubs at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (Tempe Diablo Stadium)
2:10 p.m. - Cincinnati Reds at Arizona Diamondbacks (Salt River Fields at Talking Stick)
4:05 p.m. - San Francisco Giants at Chicago White Sox (ss) (Camelback Ranch)
6:15 p.m. - Los Angeles Dodgers at San Diego Padres (Peoria Stadium)

Ferrell's goal is to honor "Campy" Campaneris while also helping organizations dedicated to fighting cancer, including Cancer for College. Formed in 1993, Cancer for College is a charity that helps individuals adversely affected by cancer to realize their dream of a college education.
 
An important part of the fund-raising efforts will be game-used memorabilia from Ferrell's journey across the five ballparks to be auctioned online later in the year on MLB.com, with proceeds being donated to Cancer for College as well as Stand Up To Cancer, a groundbreaking initiative created to accelerate innovative cancer research. MLB is the founding donor of Stand Up To Cancer.

Ferrell's historic day will be chronicled in the exclusive HBO special to air later this year, which also will feature MLB players, managers, coaches, executives and fans. Fans can follow along live and on-demand throughout the day across MLB Network, MLB.com, Reds.com and the official accounts on social media platforms.

On September 8, 1965, Campaneris, in only his second Major League season, went 0-for-3 playing all nine positions for the Kansas City Athletics in a game against the California Angels. Campaneris is expected to be there with Ferrell as he begins his journey tomorrow.

The Reds and Diamondbacks agreed to move the start time for tomorrow's game. This adjustment from the original 1:10 p.m. local time slot was to accommodate a request by Major League Baseball as part of the collaboration with HBO and Funny Or Die to film the project.