PITTSBURGH -- The Pirates recently named Jameson Taillon to the advisory board for the Taylor Hooton Foundation. Taillon joins 37 other active players across Major League Baseball who are members of the board for the organization.
The Taylor Hooton Foundation is a nonprofit organization that exists to educate North America's youth about the harmful nature of anabolic steroids and other appearance and performance-enhancing drugs.
"It seemed like a perfect fit when I was approached about joining the advisory board," Taillon said. "It seems like their message and their mission is pretty representative of what I believe in. Giving kids a little bit of insight into how you can live a healthy lifestyle without putting harmful substances into your body."
Taillon and the other players on the board will take part in the 2018 "It's All Me" public service campaign. The mission of the PSA is to advocate the Hooton Foundation's mission to warn young people about the dangers of PEDs.
"I'd always seen the shirts in the clubhouse, the 'All Me PED Free' shirts," Taillon said. "I didn't know exactly what it was, but I think Tony Watson and Jared Hughes were wearing them around. I didn't really have prior knowledge of the organization, but I was proud to be invited into the group."
The Taylor Hooton Foundation was founded in 2004 by friends and family of Taylor Hooton, a high school athlete from Texas, after he passed away at 17 after using anabolic steroids.
"Our young people today are driven to look their best, and millions of middle and high school kids are using appearance and performance-enhancing substances to achieve their goals," Taylor Hooton Foundation President Donald Hooton, Jr. said in a press release. "We're so proud of the support that Major League Baseball and these elite athletes provide to send a positive message to kids that they, too, can accomplish all of their dreams without the use of drugs."