Photo Credit: Oakland Athletics

Friday, April 21 at 10 a.m. through Monday, May 1 at 10 p.m. EDT

UMPS CARE Charities Online Auction helps to provide:

  • Furry friends, clothing and accessories from Build-A-Bear Workshop® for children in hospitals in Major League markets.
  • College scholarships for young adults adopted later in life.
  • Unique on-field baseball experiences for youth-based organizations and military families.
  • Umpire skills and leadership training for teens from under-resourced communities to become paid officials.
  • Financial Support for Sports Officials Care - a new non-profit inspiring the next generation of officials.

Signed Sports Items:

Signed Baseballs:

Experiences and Travel:

Miscellaneous:

Apparel:

UMPS CARE Apparel:

Sports Officials Care:

UMPS CARE has inspired sports officials from other professional leagues to come together to make a difference by starting a new non-profit, Sports Officials Care (see more below). Proceeds from this portion of the auction will go to support Sports Officials Care. You can take home signed items from NFL referees, official NBA jackets, vintage NHL hockey jerseys or even coffee and conversation with a professional official from another league.

Buy It Now:

Deals and Steals:


Photo Credit: Ken Blaze

About BLUE for Kids Program

Major League Baseball umpires and lovable team mascots provide furry friends, clothing and accessories from Build-A-Bear Workshop® for children with cancer and other serious illnesses. Each event includes a supply of pre-stuffed Build-A-Bear® furry friends, various outfits, cub condos, birth certificates and baseball-themed stress balls. Team photographers capture memories for the children at each event. This year will be a milestone year as MLB umpires will host the 200th Blue for Kids children's hospital visit and will deliver their 20,000th bear.

Photo Credit: Oakland Athletics

About BLUE Crew Ticket Program

BLUE Crew Tickets offers memorable baseball experiences to children awaiting adoption, at-risk youth in mentoring programs, children battling serious illness and military families. Major League Baseball umpires and caring corporate partners provide a VIP experience including great seats to the game, a goody bag of all things baseball and the unique opportunity to step onto the field for a souvenir baseball and photo. MLB umpires have welcomed more than 9,220 guests to Major League Baseball games and expanded to all 30 Triple-A teams in 2019.

About All-Star Scholarship Program

Education is an important part of life. In baseball terms, it gives you a healthy lead as you round the bases. Not everyone gets the same opportunity for higher education. The UMPS CARE Charities All-Star Scholarship was created for children adopted later in life in order to help provide a college education for promising students with a financial need. To help ensure their long-term success, each student is paired with an MLB Umpire mentor and becomes a part of the UMPS CARE Family. More than $300,000 has been awarded since the program’s inception.

Photo Credit: Mike Lawrence

About Official Leadership Program

UMPS CARE Charities launched the Official Leadership Program in 2021 to encourage, train and mentor teens to become working umpires. The course includes Social Emotional Learning in the classroom with a focus on leadership, financial literacy and mentorship, as well as umpiring skills and mechanics taught on the field. This year we will host our program in the following cities: Houston, Dallas, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Compton, Chicago and Cincinnati.

About Sports Officials Care

Sports officials have been giving back to the community for years but never before have referees and umpires from all levels of sports come together with the combined goal of making a difference.

In 2006 MLB Umpires started their own non-profit, and soon, officials from other leagues took notice. Small conversations turned into bigger ones, and now, a collective effort is underway to make a greater impact.

With a shortage of officials in all sports and the rise of physical and verbal abuse, officials know the time is now to strengthen and inspire the next generation of sports officials and to make positive change in the community.

There is a saying that teamwork makes the dream work, and Sports Officials Care is all about that mantra – making the right call in the officiating community and the community at large.

Learn more at SportsOfficialsCare.org.

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