July 29, 2024

Rick Monday: The Baseball Player Who Saved Our Flag

By Will O'Toole

Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington DC was met with thousands of protesters at Union Square who are openly pro-Hamas, antisemitic, and anti-American.  The crowd, filled with what seemed to be illiterate, although ostensibly “college-educated” people, defiled landmarks and statues and took down and then burned a federally owned American flag. Having desecrated it, they raised a Palestinian banner. The understaffed police were overwhelmed and physically abused. One brave and still unidentified man tried unsuccessfully to save the flag from the mob:

Seeing the flag and monuments desecrated in this way was incredibly painful to those who love this country. It’s not the first time, though, that anti-American forces have attacked America’s symbols. And in 1976, Rick Monday, a professional baseball player, refused to stand aside when it happened—and unlike that unknown man, his heroism was successful and got the recognition it deserved.

From 1966 to 1984, Monday played professional baseball for 17 seasons with three teams, including the Kansas City/Oakland A’s, Chicago Cubs, and Los Angeles Dodgers. For trivia lovers, he’s the answer to the question asking who was the first selection in the first baseball draft in 1965.

The Arkansas-born Monday, who matriculated at Arizona State and would soon be a Marine reservist, wasn’t an explosive star, but he was still a winner. He was an integral part of building the A’s from a cellar dweller into a divisional winner in 1971 when the franchise earned its first title since 1931 (back in its Philadelphia days).

Alas, he would not be a part of the Oakland dynasty as the front office would trade him that off-season to the Chicago Cubs. Monday spent several years mired with a team that defined mediocrity. However, for the five years he spent on Wrigley Field, Monday trudged on, producing respectable numbers for Chicago on teams that had only one winning season during that time.

Fortunately, the Cubs traded Monday to Los Angeles before the 1977 season. He responded to the deal by leading the Dodgers to three pennants in his first five years, ending in 1981 with a World Series title as Monday and his teammates exacted revenge over their American League rival, the New York Yankees.

Indeed, that season created another memorable fact about Monday: He had a dramatic ninth inning homerun off Montreal Expos pitcher Steve Rogers, breaking a 1-1 deadlock and propelling the Dodgers into the 1981 World Series.

However, for many, if not most patriotic, MLB fans, the most important thing for which Monday should be remembered transcends baseball. On April 25, 1976, during America’s bicentennial year as an independent nation and constitutional republic, Monday rescued the Stars and Stripes from would-be arsonists.

While playing in the outfield for the Cubs that day at Dodgers Stadium, Monday saw two knuckleheads trespass and then attempt to ignite the American flag on the green grass. Monday, no speed demon, raced to the flag, not yet burning because the morons couldn’t light it, and rescued the flag:

“I was angry when I saw them start to do something to the flag, and I’m glad that I happened to be geographically close enough to do something about it,” said Monday.

 

For the former Marine, it was a no-brainer reaction to something that repulsed him:

 

“The flag represents the rights and freedoms we all enjoy in this country.”

[snip]

“What I knew was what they were doing was wrong then, and it’s wrong today,” said Monday. “I had a lot of friends who lost their lives protecting the rights and freedoms that flag represented. I’m not sure what I was thinking, except I was angry and I started to run after them.”

The crowd’s reaction to his heroic deed is telling because it speaks to how America has changed in the ensuing 48 years:

He returned to his position amid a standing ovation.

[snip]

“As the cheering died, everybody in the stands started singing ‘God Bless America,’ ” Monday recalled. “I was stunned. I stood there and got chills.”

[snip]

“It wasn’t about having some military background,” Monday said. “It was about appreciating your freedom.”

Image: YouTube screen grab.

If you experience technical problems, please write to helpdesk@americanthinker.com