FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Baseball All-Star Festivities Include 'Tribute for Heroes'
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, July 16, 2013 - As Major League Baseball showcases its top players at Citi Field in New York tonight, it will take time before the 2013 All-Star Game to honor 30 service members and veterans.
During the "Tribute for Heroes" campaign, conducted jointly by MLB and People magazine, 90 finalists were selected, and fans voted online to select one service member or veteran to represent each of MLB's 30 teams.
Over the last two days, they've taken a private tour of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum and attended a VIP reception at the All-Star Gala. They also took in All-Star Red Carpet Show and last night's Home Run Derby. They will attend and be honored during the pre-game ceremony leading up to tonight's game, which will be broadcast on the Fox network beginning at 7:30 p.m. EDT.
The Tribute for Heroes campaign supports Welcome Back Veterans, an initiative of Major League Baseball and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, which addresses the needs of veterans after they return from service, according to an MLB news release. MLB has committed more than $23 million for grants to hospitals and clinics that provide post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury treatment to veterans and their families in a public/private partnership with "Centers of Excellence" at university hospitals throughout the country, the release noted.
As part of its 2013 charity initiative, PEOPLE First: Help America's Veterans, 'PEOPLE' is partnering with Welcome Back Veterans and three other nonprofit organizations that are committed to providing assistance to military men and women, and will feature them in stories in the magazine throughout 2013.
