On April 25, 1976, the year of the American Bicentennial celebrations, Chicago Cubs outfielder Rick Monday saved an American flag from being burned by two protestors who had trespassed onto the field during a game at Dodger Stadium. As the bottom of the fourth inning got underway, the protesters placed the flag in left-center field and doused it with kerosene. Playing center field, Monday spotted the protesters and raced across the field, snatching the flag just as one of the trespassers was about to set a lighted match to it.
The crowd at the stadium spontaneously began to sing “God Bless America” after the inning ended, and as Mr. Monday came to bat in the top of the fifth inning, the stadium scoreboard lit up with the message, “RICK MONDAY… YOU MADE A GREAT PLAY.” As a newspaper headline proclaimed the next day: “Dodgers win 5-4, but a Cub saves the day.” Mr. Monday still owns the flag, having turned down various monetary offers, up to a million dollars, for it. Today, he brings the flag to fundraising events he holds on behalf of United States military veterans.
These days he'd probably garner a 10 game suspension for depriving those innocent, idealistic youth of their "human rights"!
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