Young patients from UCLA Health were invited to Dodger Stadium Monday in honor of the team’s Childhood Cancer Awareness Night.
The kids got to play catch with Los Angeles Dodgers players, run the bases prior to the first pitch and some even got to announce the immortal words of the late, great Vin Scully: “It’s time for Dodger baseball.”
But the special honor wasn’t limited to the baseball diamond. Prior to Monday’s celebration, the kids got to attend an art class where they drew members of the Dodgers roster and collaborated on a commemorative t-shirt design.
Their sketches even appeared on the stadium video screens as part of player introductions and batter walk-ups.
Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and others were immortalized in crayon and colored pencil, with some artists choosing realism to depict their favorite players, while others opted for an abstract approach.
Outfielder Andy Pages and pitchers Clayton Kershaw and Jack Flaherty are immediately recognizable, while some other Dodgers stars require a closer inspection.
The exercise in creative expression was lauded by baseball fans and provided a few solid laughs, but it also brought extra attention to Major League Baseball’s childhood cancer awareness campaigns.
Although cancer in children is rare, the National Cancer Institute says childhood cancer is the leading cause of death by disease after infancy among children in the U.S.
In 2024, among children 14 and younger, it’s estimated that 9,620 kids in the U.S. will be diagnosed with cancer and 1,040 will die of the disease, NCI states on its website.
UCLA is one of the leading pediatric cancer treatment providers in the United States and its Mattel Children’s Hospital was recognized by U.S. News & World Report as one of the best children’s hospitals for 2023-24.
All 30 MLB teams host their own Childhood Cancer Awareness Night, with many taking place on Sept. 1, the first day of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. The annual tradition has been going on for the past nine seasons.
To see more photos of the special event at Dodger Stadium, including images of the commemorative t-shirt the kids helped design, click here.