Brad Ziegler’s New Charity Supports Military Families

As we take this Memorial Day to honor and remember those who lost their lives fighting for this country, two Bay Area ballplayers are doing their part to ensure that our troops will not be forgotten.

Barry Zito’s charity, Strikeouts for Troops (see my May 15 post) was highlighted at today’s Giants game. Across the Bay, A’s reliever Brad Ziegler also started a new foundation, Pastime for Patriots. The charity launched on May 8 and aims to accomplish several goals, including providing college scholarships for kids who lost a parent during combat; donating game tickets to military families; and providing care packages to troops’ families.

A big history buff, Ziegler said that he came up with the idea for his charity after spending time reading a lot of books and watching a lot of movies about the Revolutionary, Civil and World wars.

“The more I dove into it, the more I realized how much these people sacrificed so much for us,” says Ziegler. “There are people still doing that now. I know very well how hard it is to be away from your family because of a commitment that you’ve made.”

“I have no idea what it’s like to be at home when your loved one is half-way around the world,” he says, “but I want to make sure that the families are not forgotten. In some ways, the sacrifices that they are making are as big as the ones being made in the Middle East.”

Ziegler purchased 200 tickets – an amount which was matched by the A’s Community Fund – for the A’s vs. Tampa Bay game on May 8 and donated them to military families. He will do the same for several more games this season. Ziegler hopes to have a web site up soon, promoting Pastime for Patriots, and has plans to host several fundraising events, including a benefit concert, poker night and a silent auction.

“In some ways, it’s tragic to me that we have to have a holiday to bring out patriotism,” Ziegler says. “The (troops overseas) don’t get days off. Every single day is the same for them. We should never stop supporting them and never stop showing our appreciation.”

Five-Minute Interview with Dallas Braden

The A’s organization just finished spending the entire past week feting Dallas Braden and his perfect game. Braden deserved every minute of it. His perfecto on May 9 was only the 19^th in Major League Baseball history and only the second in A’s history (the first coming from Jim “Catfish” Hunter on May 8, 1968).

The personable lefty from Stockton found himself hurled into the spotlight that glorious Mother’s Day. He became an instant national celebrity, making appearances on ESPN and the Late Show with David Letterman.

I met him for the first time today and even though he’s been asked the same questions about his remarkable feat a million and one times, he graciously answered them one more time for me.

Baseball by the Bay: At what point did you realize that you were about to throw a perfect game?

Dallas Braden: I realized what was going on around the sixth when we started to string some hits together and (Tampa Bay Rays starter James) Shields started to lose a little bit of his rhythm. When a guy like that gets out of rhythm, you start to notice, because it’s a crucial part of the game.

I was in the dugout and I looked up at the scoreboard and I saw no hits and I knew that I hadn’t walked anyone, that’s when I started to get a little nervous.

BBB: How did you stay focused for the next three innings?

Braden: I just wanted to keep my team in the game and give them opportunities to win. When the outs kept coming, I became more and more in tune with what (catcher Landon Powell) and I were trying to do.

BBB: Did your teammates treat you differently in the dugout when they realized that a perfect game could happen?

Braden: They didn’t treat me any differently than when I usually pitch. The day I pitch, I’m all business. They don’t talk to me, nobody says a word to me. They stay away from me on the day I pitch so it was no different from any other day.

BBB: How do you feel about your sudden celebrity?

Braden: It’s not too different than before in that as a professional athlete, people want your autograph and people want to talk to you. Now, it’s a little more specific in that people want to talk about that game and tell me how they appreciate how it happened. It’s weird to think that you can bring so much joy to people just by going out and playing a game that makes you happy.

BBB: What was more fun, celebrating your perfect game or being on “Letterman”?

Braden: I would say going through the process with my teammates, the celebration and that short two-hour time span that it took for it to come together. Watching my teammates making plays behind me, Landon and I being on the same page from the get-go, sharing with those guys on a special day and knowing that we were all sharing that with our mothers and grandmothers that day—that was the fun part.

BBB: And “Letterman”?

Braden: It was a thrill. They say that you know that you’ve made it when you get on “Letterman”. I don’t know if I’ve made it yet, but I guess I’m one step closer than before. It’s been a riot. The biggest thing is that my grandma has been able to come along with me every step of the way and she’s been having a blast. She’s been having the time of her life. She’ll be throwing out the first pitch at the Sacramento Rivercats game. She’s gotten a lot of attention and she’s been handling it like she’s been a pop star for the past 30 years.

BBB: How do feel about being in the company of Randy Johnson, David Wells, Catfish Hunter and the others who have thrown a perfect game?

Braden: I don’t even put myself in the same company as those guys. I’m just on a very distinguished list with them, but I’m nowhere near in their company. They did so much in this game and accomplished so much—they are what I strive to be. I want their careers, not just the one achievement.

BBB: It’s well known that you did not have the easiest life growing up, but now here you are a successful professional athlete with a perfect game under your belt. What message would you like to send to others who may be going through what you went through?

Braden: You don’t need every opportunity in the world—you just need to take advantage of the opportunity that’s presented to you. It’s possible to reach the pinnacle of your dream—it’s just a matter of not letting anyone knock you down and keep you down. It’s okay to get knocked down, but you’ve got to get back up.

Zito’s Strikeouts Help Troops

May 15 is Armed Forces Day and it’s nice to know that even though the Bay Area isn’t always the most military-friendly place on Earth, there’s one guy who still cares about the troops. That’s Giants pitcher Barry Zito. Since its inception in April 2005, Zito’s Strikeouts for Troops program has raised close to $2 million to help injured military servicemen and women.

Five years ago, Zito started out by donating $100 for each of his strikeouts. He’s now up to $500 per K this season. That could prove to be a costly venture for the lefty, who chalked up 154 strikeouts last season. But Zito is more than happy to give.

The money goes to troops recuperating at Walter Reed, Bethesda Naval Hospital, Brooke Army Medical Center and other military hospitals. Soldiers have used their grants to pay for travel and housing costs for visiting family members, holiday gifts for their children, special furniture needed for their recovery at home and personal items, such as phone cards and CDs. The program has also paid for Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners for troops spending the holidays in the hospital.

Strikeouts for Troops works with several charitable organizations to solicit requests for aid from needy troops, screen the applicants and then distribute funds.

“It’s about surrounding an injured soldier with love and support from his family. When you’re sick or injured, you want to be around your family and sometimes that’s not always something that’s considered,” says Zito, who came up with Strikeouts for Troops after visiting injured service men and women at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. five years ago.

Zito has gotten other Major League players, including teammates Matt Cain and Brian Wilson, to also pledge dollars for every batter they whiff. And, he’s expanded his program to include position players, such as Nick Swisher and Eric Chavez, who donate based on the number of hits, home runs and RBIs they produce. His goal is to get at least one player from each Major League team to participate in the program.

Zito says that he’s happy to see growing support for the troops. During the Giants’ recent road trip, military servicemen and women were honored before games in New York and Florida. “It’s great to see support take hold across the country. In New York, there was an ad that said, “When they come home, will you be ready to greet them and say, ‘Thank you.’ I thought that was a really great message.”