Major League Baseball shows consideration for Tornado Relief – MLB Update
Major League Baseball, in an attempt to extend its community outreach, dedicated Game 7 of the World Series to the Tornado Relief initiative it had taken to help the victims of one of the deadliest tornado outbreaks that killed nearly 162 people and destroyed
7000 homes in Joplin area on May 22.
The finale of the World Series was expected to gather thousands of baseball fans at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri and thus MLB Commissioner Bud Selig appealed fans at the venue and elsewhere to donate generously to ‘Heart to Heart International’ and
‘Habitat for Humanity’.
Selig said, "We are a social institution, and it isn't that we should be doing these things, we ought to be
privileged, and we are privileged to do it. So we are working with them in great detail ... [in] providing assistance to the victims of this horrible tragedy."
Apart from the tornado that affected Joplin, there were more than 300 tornadoes from April 26 to 27 in the South that destroyed entire towns. Reportedly, Alabama suffered the most destruction from the tornado, followed by Mississippi, Tennessee, Virginia
and Georgia.
Showing concern, MLB and MLB Players Trust contributed 200,000-dollars for the treatment of almost 6000 people during the days of crisis and the time that followed. Majority of these contributions were made through Heart to Heart, which was among the pioneers
to initiate aid work for the affected areas.
MLB invited children from the Joplin South Little League who had earlier participated in the Junior RBI Classic in Phoenix during the All-Star Week in order to give them recognition and share moments of happiness with them.
Tom Owen, coach of the Joplin Little Leaguers, was enthralled by the ceremony and asserted that MLB has been kind enough to give them attention at the biggest stage of baseball. He added that people usually subside as time passes by, but by giving recognition,
MLB has proved that this assistance will continue in the long-term as well.
Owen pointed out that 11 of the 12 players that participated in the RBI Tournament had lost their homes, but hopes are high and that is the key.
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