Baseball thanks veterans for their service

Baseball thanks veterans for their service
Several programs throughout big leagues aid and pay tribute to soldiers
Major League Baseball
By Meggie Zahneis
5/25/2013

Baseball and veterans: two of the most American institutions in the country.

And, now more than ever, they're closely linked to one another.

Marine Corporal Chad Ohmer, a Purple Heart recipient, was recognized Friday as the Reds' Hometown Hero.(MLB.com)

Across Major League Baseball, players and coaches will don Marine Corps-licensed jerseys and caps on Memorial Day, along with participating in a moment of silence before all games on Memorial Day weekend.

And that's just the start.

"The league itself thinks veterans are very important," said MLB vice president of community affairs Tom Brasuell. "We have a program called Welcome Back Veterans which was a vision of one of the owners [Fred Wilpon] of the New York Mets to make sure that veterans who were returning from Iraq and Afghanistan had the services they needed when they returned. Initially, we were providing grants to a number of non-profits who were helping vets and their families return to civilian life with jobs and job training, mental health and housing issues."

In 2009, the Robert B. McCormick Foundation partnered with MLB on what is now known as the Welcome Back Veterans Initiative, chipping in 50 cents to the dollar on MLB's initial $10 million donation.

Now, the Welcome Back Veterans Initiative sponsors seven university hospitals nationwide for research and treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) to aid veterans.
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