By Blake Stilwell, We Are The Mighty
Long story short, they were ripping on Chick-Fil-A for being closed on Sundays. That’s not important, but I’ll show you the ad anyway.
Rick Monday’s name may not ring a bell for younger NFL and MLB fans, but it’s a guarantee your elders know who he is. Besides being the top prospect for the 1965 MLB draft, playing for the Athletics, Cubs, and Dodgers for 19 seasons and winning a World Series with Los Angeles, Monday is best known for defending the American flag in the middle of a game.
The left-handed center fielder was playing for the Chicago Cubs at the time against the home team LA Dodgers on April 25, 1976. At the bottom of the 4th inning, two strangely dressed hippies made their way onto the baseball field and crouched down in the left center of the outfield.
It was supposed to be an act of protest filmed on live TV. The two men started trying to set an American flag on fire, right there in front of Dodger Stadium, the U.S., and the world. But after the batter in play hit a pop fly, Monday saw what the men were trying to do, ran over to them, and snatched the flag away to thunderous applause.
“If you’re going to burn the flag, don’t do it around me. I’ve been to too many veterans’ hospitals and seen too many broken bodies of guys who tried to protect it,” Monday later said.
Monday had served in the Marine Corps Reserve as part of a service obligation for attending Arizona State University.
The two men were arrested and charged with trespassing. Monday took the lighter fluid-soaked flag over to the opposing dugout. When Rick Monday walked to home plate on his next at bat, he came out of the dugout to a standing ovation from the home team’s fans. The story doesn’t end there.
He received the flag as a gift after it was no longer evidence in a criminal case. It was presented to him at Wrigley Field on May 4th, from the LA Dodgers, and he has kept it throughout the years. These days, he and his wife take the flag on fundraising tours across America to raise money for veteran-related issues.
We Are The Mighty is a veteran-led digital publisher and Emmy-award-winning media agency servicing brands with video production, marketing, advertising, and consulting services to engage with the military community. In addition to our digital publisher, we also run the Military Influencer Conference, the largest in-person event servicing our military community. WATM is owned by Recurrent Ventures and is a GSA approved vendor.
For more than 150 years, the Medal of Honor has been used to recognize acts of extraordinary battlefield courage performed in service to the United States.
Medical oversight and care were “poorly organized, poorly integrated and poorly led and put candidat...
Memorial Day was created as a remembrance to honor the fallen by decorating graves — a holiday meant...
The Air Force fighter pilot about to be nominated as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ...
In an effort to continue Black Rifle Coffee Company’s mission of supporting the veteran community, B...
Black Rifle Coffee Company will honor Marine Gunnery Sgt. Joseph Menusa during NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 this Memorial Day. Menusa was killed in 2003 during the invasion of Iraq.
The nuclear-powered ship USS Gerald R. Ford entered the Oslo fjord escorted by a rapid dinghy-type boat with armed personnel on board.
Two-time Academy Award nominee Adam Driver, who will soon be starring as Enzo Ferrari in a biopic of...