Tag Archives: Charity

(Blogathon ’16) Matt Taylor: Adam Jones Is a Difference Maker for Baltimore

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This guest-post is part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer are not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.

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I’m pleased to have the opportunity to participate in the Blogathon to raise money for the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. Like most everyone, it seems, I have a close personal connection to cancer. I lost my mom to the disease many years ago. I’ve also worked at the American Cancer Society, which helped me understand how much progress was and is being made in the fight against cancer.

I do my Orioles blogging over at Roar from 34. When I think about charity in relation to the Orioles, Adam Jones comes to mind. Jones received the 2015 Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award back in November. The award, which is part of the Major League Baseball Players Choice Awards, honors Jones’ efforts on the diamond and in the community. 

If you’re not an Orioles fan, you might not know about Jones’ charitable work. After receiving the Marvin Miller award he said the following: “I do a lot of stuff in the dark. I’ll do it on my own time and with my own resources and it’s great to have it thrive that way.”

In addition to the Marvin Miller Award, Jones has received the Governor’s Service Award in Maryland, the MLB Players Association’s Brooks Robinson Community Service Award, and has twice been nominated for baseball’s Roberto Clemente Award.

It’s easy, and often wise, to cast a cynical eye toward athletes’ charitable efforts. Jones isn’t one to worry about polishing his image, however. You might guess as much if you’ve ever witnessed his candor on Twitter (he introduced me to the term slapdick) or read some of his locker room quotes. The guy takes big cuts on the field and off of it.

Jones’ charity of choice is Boys & Girls Clubs of America. He benefited from the program while growing up in San Diego and now gives back to clubs there and in Baltimore.

“Giving back to these kids, letting them understand that there are people out there who really care about you in terms of your education and well-being. These have been the kind of places that always have been safe havens for youths,” Jones explained in a 2014 Baltimore Sun story.

Jones combines his love for food and for charity with an annual #StayHungry Purple Tailgate at a Baltimore Ravens game to raise money for the Boys and Girls Club of Baltimore. In addition to raising money, the event allows fans to interact with Jones in person. The 2015 event featured Biz Markie.

Adam Jones has got what we need in Baltimore to make us proud.

Matt Taylor has been blogging about the Baltimore Orioles at Roar From 34 since 2006. Roar From 34 is the oldest independently operated Orioles blog. The site, which focuses on humor, history, and homerism, will celebrate its 10th anniversary this season. Matt was the first credentialed blogger to work in the press box at Orioles Park at Camden Yards and has participated in the MidAtlantic Sports Network’s (MASN) guest blogger program since its inception in 2011. 

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This guest-post has been part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page. Also, please note that the opinions and statements of the writer are not necessarily those of the Baseball Continuum or it’s webmaster.

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2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon for Charity: Introduction

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Hello, and welcome to the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon for Charity, raising money through GoFundMe for the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation, the charitable arm of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute.

Over the next three days, you will read pieces from not only me, but some of the best writers, bloggers, Tweeters, researchers, fans, and podcasters on the web. Also, those who donate non-anonymously will be eligible for giveaways of books, a comic, copies of Out Of The Park Baseball, and a “Living Baseball Card”.

So, please, donate! But even if you are unable or unwilling to, I hope you enjoy the next three days of content.

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I’m not entirely sure why I chose to do this. Part of it is because I always enjoyed the “Old Time Family Baseball” Blogathons that Michael Clair ran for Doctors Without Borders (also a very worthy charity), but I think another big reason for why was my grandfather. His name was Jacob “Jack” Glickman. He was a pharmacist, and a baseball fan. Through him, my dad became a baseball fan, and through him, I became a baseball fan.

He also died of cancer. I can still easily remember the day he died- September 30, 2014. That was also the day of the classic Royals-Athletics Wild Card game. The two are very connected in my mind, as earlier that day I had been visiting my grandfather at the place where he was being treated in his final days. Despite the fact that doctors had said he probably didn’t have much time left, and that he wasn’t entirely all “there”, he still wanted to know about the game, when it would be, who was pitching, and who I thought would win.

I found out that he had passed away shortly before the start of the game. I was sad, of course, but I was told to not come to the hospital and instead watch the game. It was, as we all remember, an instant classic, and by the end I wasn’t so much sad about how my grandfather was gone, so much as sad that he hadn’t been able to see that great game.

So, when it came time to figure out what the Blogathon would be for, I came pretty quickly to the idea of raising money for a cancer charity. My grandfather was not the first fan to miss a great game because of the scourge of cancer, and sadly he was far from the last. It’s likely that all of us, including many of the guest writers who will be taking over this weekend, have known somebody who has been affected by the disease, and in many cases we likely know somebody who lost their lives to it.

And after some research, I decided upon Roswell Park Alliance Foundation, which is the charitable arm of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Roswell Park, located in Buffalo but with affiliations across New York and the world, is America’s oldest cancer center, specializing in research and treatment. The RPAF is rated four stars by Charitynavigator.com, and donations will, according to their website, be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Fittingly, Roswell Park has a close relationship with the State University of New York at Buffalo, where my late grandfather studied to become a pharmacist. 

So, again, please donate. You only need a credit/debit card and a few minutes, but it could help people in the future.

Now, that’s how we got here. Make sure to come back next hour as I begin the Blogathon’s baseball content with an installment of “Famous For Something Else”.

 

 

Announcing the First Annual Baseball Continuum Blogathon for Charity

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Hello everyone, it’s Dan Glickman, your writer and host here at the Baseball Continuum. Today, I am writing to let all of you know of an exciting and hopefully helpful upcoming event, to begin on January 29, 2016: The First Annual Baseball Continuum Blogathon for Charity!

What, exactly, is the blogathon? Well, it’s simple and takes a page out of the blogathons of some previous years held by Michael Clair over at Old Time Family Baseball. In essence, it is a collection of baseball content put together by people from across the baseball internet, all to raise awareness and funds for charity. Some might be big long articles, others might be short jokes, and still others could be works of art or music. But for two to three days (depending on participation), the Baseball Continuum will (hopefully) be stuffed to the gills with baseball content, and, more importantly, will help raise money for a worthy cause.

That “worthy cause” is one that I know has affected seemingly everyone: cancer. It’s likely that all of us have known somebody who has suffered from it, and too many of us have personally lost somebody we love. Just last year, for example, I lost my grandfather- a devout baseball fan- to a form of the disease. I first heard of his death just as the Wild Card game between the Royals and Athletics began, and only hours before I had been talking to him about who was going to win. I’m sure many of you have similar stories.

And so, in this inaugural year, all money raised will go to the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation, which is the charitable arm of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Roswell Park, located in Buffalo but with affiliations across New York and the world, is America’s oldest cancer center, specializing in research and treatment. The RPAF is rated four stars by Charitynavigator.com, and donations will, according to their website, be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Fittingly, Roswell Park has a close relationship with the State University of New York at Buffalo, where my late grandfather studied to become a pharmacist. 

So, here’s how the Blogathon will work:

  • On January 29, starting at midnight, I will be posting at least 24 new pieces of content on the Continuum. These will range from short stupid ditties to big long features.
  • Then, starting on January 30 and going until we run out of stuff to run, some of the best baseball fans, writers, bloggers, artists and analysts on the internet will take over, bringing a caboodle of content that will hopefully inform, amuse, and entertain readers from around the web. If you are interested in contributing a piece, please e-mail me at djgwriter@yahoo.com with the subject title of “Blogathon” (or something similar to that) and I can give you further details. In addition, I will be reaching out to many of you in the coming days and weeks to see if you may be interested in contributing, so if you are a noted personality of Baseball Twitter or the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, check your in-box!
  • At the end of the campaign, anybody who donated at least one dollar will be eligible to win prizes, such as a copy of the 2007 installment of the immortal comic book, AAA Baseball Heroes. If you have something baseball-related that you would like to contribute, please let me know through my e-mail, djgwriter@yahoo.com.
  • Donations will open on a GoFundMe page about a week before the beginning of the blogathon and will close about a week after.

 

Thank you, and please look out in the coming weeks for more updates on the The First Annual Baseball Continuum Blogathon for Charity!