Rick Monday to Coach at White House

Rick Monday is headed to the White House. The former Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder, a two-time Major League All-Star, and his wife, Barbaralee Casciari Monday, will be joining President Bush and the First Lady at the White House as part of Salute to Baseball – America’s Pastime. Rick will be coaching third base during a Little League All-Star Tee Ball game on the White House lawn tomorrow afternoon, following which he and Barbaralee will be guests of The President and Mrs. Bush at a dinner at the White House. Monday, a Dodger radio broadcaster, is a veteran of the Marine Corps Reserve and a member of American Legion Post 211 in Woodward , Iowa . He won a World Series with the 1981 Dodgers and will be forever linked with an incident that occurred on April 25, 1976 while he was playing for the Chicago Cubs. When two protestors attempted to burn the U.S. flag on the field at Dodger Stadium in the middle of a game, Monday swiped the flag before they were successful – an act that motivated the crowd of more than 30,000 to break into a spontaneous rendition of “God Bless America .” The scoreboard lit up with the message, “Rick Monday, you made a great play,” for the visiting player and future Dodger, and the event was ranked as one of the 100 greatest moments in baseball history by the Baseball Hall of Fame. Monday has also been honored with a Senate Resolution for the rescue. “The final honor our country bestows upon the family of a fallen soldier is to present them with the flag that draped his coffin. Accompanied with the words, 'On behalf of a grateful nation', we as Americans must never allow that symbol - of both our country and their loved one, to be desecrated, Monday told The American Legion at its 2007 National Convention. “In my mind, what the protestors were trying to do was wrong. It was wrong 31 years ago and it is still wrong today. There is no place for it.” Monday is currently a board member of the Citizens Flag Alliance, a coalition of 149 organizations that are dedicated to adding a flag protection amendment to the U.S. Constitution. “Barbaralee and I have visited the wounded troops at Walter Reed and Brooke Army Medical Center ,” said Monday. “Our nation’s flag represents all the rights and freedoms protected by the sacrifices of our heroes. People have died fighting under that flag and it should never be desecrated.” Rick and Barbaralee have a son-in-law currently serving with the U.S. Army in Iraq . The Mondays still possess the flag that Rick saved from the protestors 32 years ago and plan to show it to President Bush. Video of Rick Monday’s flag-saving play can be seen at www.legion.org/vision/currentevent (http://www.legion.org/vision/currentevent)Source: Dodgers press releaseMaury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network (http://www.businessofsportsnetwork.com/), which includes The Biz of Baseball (http://www.bizofbasketball.com/), The Biz of Football (http://www.bizoffootball.com/), The Biz of Basketball (http://www.bizofbasketball.com/) and The Biz of Hockey (http://bizofhockey.com/). He is contributor to Baseball Prospectus (http://baseballprospectus.com/news/?author=124), and is available as a freelance writer.Brown's full bio is here. (http://www.businessofsportsnetwork.com/index.php?option=com _content view=article id=47 Itemid=18) He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network (http://www.businessofsportsnetwork.com/index.php?option=com _contact view=contact id=2 Itemid=29). more...