Major Leaguers Begin 18th Season of Providing Underserved Youth with Unforgettable Ballpark Experiences
Players Trust launches 2017 Buses for Baseball program with trip to Dodgers Stadium
Buses for Baseball Rolls into its 18th Season
About 50 young people fighting serious illnesses enjoyed a game at historic Dodger Stadium on Monday night as the personal guests of the Players, when the Major League Baseball Players Trust’s Buses for Baseball program kicked off its 2017 campaign.
Los Angeles Dodgers players Chris Hatcher, Enrique Hernandez, Kenley Jansen, Chris Taylor and former Dodgers great and current broadcaster Orel Hershiser broke away from their pregame routines to spend time with the kids from Tia’s Hope, a charity that provides “memory moments” for children and their families who are forced to spend time in the hospital. The players offered encouragement, signed autographs and posed for pictures before the kids and their chaperones settled in to watch the game as the personal guests of the players.
Tia Palermo, for whom the charity is named, battled non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma for 11 years before passing away in 2012 and spent many days and hours at City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, Calif. She was particularly interested in ensuring that kids at the hospital had special experiences to cherish, so Tia’s Hope was created by her family to carry on that work in her memory.
2017 marks the 18th season the Players Trust will be providing unforgettable ballpark memories to hundreds of children in ten Major League cities. Through the Buses for Baseball program, players host groups of underserved kids at ballparks, treating them to a bus ride to the stadium, a pre-game meet-and-greet with players, food, beverages, souvenirs and, of course, a ballgame.
To learn more, please visit PlayersTrust.org.
