Major League Baseball, the MLB Players Association, the St. Louis Cardinals and Kansas City Royals turned an interleague, intrastate “I-70 rivalry” series into a great fundraising event to benefit victims of a natural disaster. That of course was the tornado that ravaged Joplin, Mo. this past May.
The matchup provided an opportunity for two cross-state teams in separate leagues to come together and focus on something much more serious than the game itself. Videos of the tornado and its path of destruction litter Youtube today and will always remind us of the devastating loss of life, homes, neighborhoods and infrastructure.
So much destruction left the city of Joplin almost completely crippled – but not beyond recovery – thanks to efforts like this one by Major League Baseball. A reminder of the impact from this natural disaster:
- On May 22, 2011 an E5 tornado with 200 MPH winds hit the city of Joplin, MO.
- 6,953 homes and 800 business in Joplin were completely destroyed.
- 6 schools were destroyed – 2 High Schools, 2 Middle Schools & 2 Elementary Schools.
- 153 people were killed; 1,300 were injured; 750 hospitalized; and 500 in shelters.
Estimated cost to rebuild Joplin: $1.9 – $3 Billion
We were advised of the charitable efforts by the teams and the league, and the plans for building awareness for the weekend series. Several press releases described the details of the cause, and included photos of the commemorative logo to be used on official game balls and Ceremonial 1st Pitch Baseballs, base jewels and lineup cards.
We’ve obtained several of these commemorative logo ROMLB game balls, and we’re donating a small portion from each sale to Cardinals Care. “Funds collected through Cardinals initiatives benefitting the victims in Joplin will be distributed by Cardinals Care to provide relief to area children.”
Sure, it’s a tiny contribution, and our supplies are extremely limited. But we feel good about trying to help, and want to share other opportunities with our readers who want to pitch in.
There is an auction of signed commemorative baseballs, used game balls and other memorabilia from the series. You can view these items at the Cardinals Auctions’ Site. Additionally, you can purchase a Teams Unite for Joplin official jersey patch, the same as those worn by the Cardinals and Royals during the series. They’re only $10, with proceeds distributed towards relief efforts.
We quickly sold out of our limited supply of Rawlings MLB Teams Unite for Joplin Official Game Baseballs and sent a small donation to Cardinals Care on behalf of Big League Baseballs / OfficialGameBalls.com. No other dealer was able to stock or offer these super rare items. Only the Cardinals sold them, all game-used, mud-rubbed, or signed. We were very fortunate, though we easily could have sold multiple caseloads of these gems. They’re very highly valued and sought after to this day, but a lot of that value could be a result of how few were made available to the public.
I wish we could have donated much more to Cardinals Care for the disaster recovery efforts. But it was rewarding for us nonetheless to use our little platform here for something positive beyond just collecting these silly little baseballs!
A quick update: Here’s an old follow-up article and video about the recovery in Joplin, and the work Habitat for Humanity completed a few years following the tornado. A lot of that work was aided by contributions from Major League Baseball and its two Missouri teams, the Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals.
