Major League Baseball and the Prostate Cancer Foundation teamed up this year to form the Home Run Challenge in honor of Father's Day. Their gift to father's across the country: for each home run hit in 60 selected games between June 6 and today, June 17, raised money for prostate cancer, the second most common cancer for men in the United States.Some fans of this cause made pledges; some posted online tributes to their dads at Dockers San Francisco. For every message submitted, the company donated one dollar. Some messages were even shown in Times Square for all to see.
I just checked the status of the Home Run Challenge on this Father's Day morning and found the most updated total of home runs to be 91. Leading the accomplishment are Ken Griffey, Jr., Alex Rodriguez, and Alfonso Soriano. The current Team Home Run leader: the Cincinnati Reds.
All-Star Cincinnati Reds catcher Ed Bailey -- famous in the 1950s -- died of throat cancer on Friday, six months after he was diagnosed with the disease. He was 75.
Former Cincinnati Reds pitching coach Vern Ruhle died Saturday after a year-long battle with myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow. He was 55.
