Baseball Assistance Team gathers for a celebrity ball – MLB News
Baseball Assistance Team (B.A.T) Celebrity Ball was inaugurated on Wednesday, March 2 with players from the 2001 World Series Champions Arizona Diamondbacks.
Hall of Famers Robin Yount, George Brett, Rickey Henderson, Ferguson Jenkins and Joe Morgan were present on the stage to share their views.
B.A.T is an organization founded by Joe Garagiola 35-years-ago to assist ex-baseball players and their families. The organisation has granted more than $23 million.
Garagiola started this organisation with the vision to produce funds that could help former players and their families without any shame of asking for help.
The organisation has granted many players and their families with considerable funds to help them out in times of crisis. The most important aspect being the fact that everything is done anonymously so that the recipients are not known out-right and there
is no embarrassment for them.
"We never had a crowd like this in the old days," Joe Garagiola Sr. told a sold-out dinner crowd gathered at the Talking Stick Resort. "If we had four people in a telephone booth we'd be happy."
Most former players appreciate the concept of the organisation and enjoy coming out to meet the other players and help out when they can. The organisation is going positive things by helping the families of players that might not otherwise get help.
Putting together and hosting a celebrity ball with Hall of Famers and other retired players allows B.A.T. to get assistance of their own by raising funds to help others in need. Although most of the assistance is kept anonymous, there were a few recipients
at the celebrity ball to express their gratitude for the help that they had been given by B.A.T.
One such recipient is the Director of Minor League operations for the Oakland Athletics Ted Polakowski. B.A.T. helped him as his wife was suffering and later died from pancreatic cancer. He had kind words to say as he talked about the B.A.T. and the help
that they had given him.
"The best thing about B.A.T. is that it's anonymous. No one knows who they help," Polakowski said. "The worst thing about B.A.T. is that it's anonymous. No one knows who they help."
Garagiola Sr. has done a great job starting and maintaining an organisation such as B.A.T. He has managed to touch many lives and help others in their time of need.
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