Pink bat

Starting in 2006, the Louisville Slugger Company produced a limited supply of more than 400 pink baseball bats for use by more than 50 professional baseball players on Mother's Day. Major League Baseball authorized the use of the specially dyed bats — temporarily suspending the regulation that restricts players to using black, brown, red, or white bats — as part of a weeklong program to benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

In addition to wielding the unique Sluggers, players and field-staff wore pink wristbands and pink ribbons, while bases and homeplates were tagged with the breast cancer awareness logo, and line-ups were written on pink card. All of the specially-produced memorabilia was later autographed and auctioned off on MLB.com to benefit the Komen for the Cure. In its debut season, "Major League Baseball and its fans collectively raised $350,000" through the program.

2006

Players who brandished the distinctive bats in their inaugural season included Alexis Ríos, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Xavier Nady, Jim Thome, Carl Crawford, David Ortiz, Jim Edmonds, Toby Hall, Willy Taveras, Richie Sexson, Mark Teixeira, Travis Lee, Ken Griffey, Jr., Doug Davis, Michael Young, Mark Kotsay, Jeff Francoeur, Greg Norton, Torii Hunter, Hank Blalock, Jason LaRue, Derek Jeter, Jermaine Dye, Mark Ellis, Prince Fielder, Jonny Gomes, Kevin Mench, Carl Everett, Joe Borchard, David Eckstein, Marcus Giles, Damon Hollins, Manny Ramírez, Adam Dunn, Bill Hall, Albert Pujols, Tomás Pérez, Craig Biggio, Doug Mientkiewicz, Vernon Wells, and Lance Berkman. Rios, Dye, Thome, Kotsay, LaRue, Bill Hall, and Berkman hit some of the few Pink Bat home runs with Hall's being a walk-off shot against the Mets.

Other players, including Geoff Blum, Khalil Greene and Mike Cameron, flatly refused to use the unorthodox bats. [http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/padres/20060511-9999-1s11padnotes.html]

2007

In its second year, the program outfitted more than 200 batters with the specialty Mother's Day bats, including Biggio, Blalock, Berkman, Dye, Hunter, Griffey, Young, Teixeira, Hall, Rollins, Albert Pujols, Rafael Furcal, Juan Uribe, David DeJesus, Mark Loretta, Brian Roberts, Estéban Germán, B. J. Upton, Pablo Ozuna, Kenny Lofton, Nick Markakis, Vernon Wells, Mike Sweeney, Carlos Lee, Delmon Young, Aubrey Huff, Shane Costa, Milton Bradley, Mark Teahen, Royce Clayton, Sammy Sosa, John Buck, Jay Payton, Jason Lane, Michael Cuddyer, Lyle Overbay, Joe Crede, Alex Gordon, Ramón Hernández, Julio Lugo, Brad Wilkerson, Dioner Navarro, Coco Crisp, Hunter Pence, Carlos Beltrán, J. D. Drew, Aaron Hill, Adam Everett, Reggie Willits, Kevin Youkilis, Gerald Laird, Brad Ausmus, Jason Varitek, Jason Phillips, Craig Monroe, Eric Hinske, Rocco Baldelli, Casey Kotchman, Tony Peña, Morgan Ensberg, Nelson Cruz, Sean Casey, Alex Cora, Ryan Sweeney, Erick Aybar, Orlando Palmeiro, Curtis Granderson, Ian Kinsler, Dan Uggla, Paul Konerko, Ryan Zimmerman, Shea Hillenbrand, Brandon Inge, Robby Hammock, Mike Napoli, Luis Castillo, Cristian Guzmán, Gustavo Molina, Justin Morneau, Raúl Ibáñez, Derrek Lee, Daryle Ward, Cliff Floyd, Aramis Ramírez, Aaron Rowand, Chase Utley, Ty Wigginton and Ryan Garko.

Bill Hall, Hillenbrand, Beltran, Guzmán, Cuddyer, Teahen, Napoli hit some of the few Pink Bat home runs, while Biggio used a Pink Bat to go 2-for-4, collecting his 2,965th and 2,966th career hits (his 648th and 649th career doubles) for Houston. Griffey also hit a "pink homer," the 570th of his career to surpass Rafael Palmeiro and take sole possession of ninth place on the all-time career home runs list. And Hunter hit two Pink Bat home runs for the Twins — a three-run shot in the first inning and a two-run long ball in the eighth — and set a new career high for RBI in a game with seven.

Pitcher Mike Myers of the New York Yankees ordered a pink glove to wear, but was not allowed to by Major League Baseball. Myers said he would flout the rule and face a fine, but did not get into the game. [http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/05/11/odds-and-ends-from-safeco-field/] [http://yankees.lohudblogs.com/2007/05/13/game-36-yankees-at-mariners/]

2008

In its third year, the program offered pink wristbands and pink titanium necklaces made by MLB licensee Phiten. [http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080508&content_id=2663075&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb 1] Ryan Braun and Craig Monroe each hit two Pink Bat homers for the Brewers and Twins, respectively. Carlos Beltran and Ryan Church hit back-to-back homers with the Pink Bats for the Mets.

Origin

In March 2006, John A. Hillerich IV, President and CEO of the Louisville Slugger parent-company Hillerich & Bradsby, made a visit to the Canadian-based sports company [http://www.tpshockey.com/ TPS Hockey] , which had produced more than 400 pink hockey sticks for players in the NHL. Players including Tie Domi, Mats Sundin, Steve Yzerman, Sidney Crosby and Ed Belfour used the special sticks during the weekend of March 17, raising more than $110,000. Hillerich later presented the idea of the Pink Bat to MLB Commissioner Bud Selig and MLB President Bob DuPuy, who "both went to bat for the pink bat".

References

* [http://web.archive.org/web/20060531082043/http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/5594322 Pink bats to help benefit breast cancer]
* [http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=2370727 Pink sticks to honor moms, raise cash to fight cancer]
* [http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060511&content_id=1448805&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb Mother's Day to feature pink bats]
* [http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/padres/20060511-9999-1s11padnotes.html Some boys just can't think pink]
* [http://www.sptimes.com/2006/05/14/Rays/Rays_sluggers_not_afr.shtml Rays sluggers not afraid to think pink]
* [http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070513&content_id=1963701&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb Baseball goes pink on Mother's Day]
* [http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080508&content_id=2663075&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb MLB to go pink on Sunday]