We say happy birthday to Rick Monday, a pretty good outfielder who played for the A's, Cubs and Dodgers. He was born in Arkansas on this day in 1945.
Monday's best years were with the Cubs (1972-76) when he hit 106 HRs and was a very tough out. As a Dodger, he hit a 9th inning HR to beat Montreal in the 1981 NLCS.
Nevertheless, Rick's greatest baseball moment had nothing to do with hits or home runs.
It happened in 1976.
Between innings, Monday took his position in center field and was playing catch with a teammate. He saw a couple of guys trying to burn the flag, ran and grabbed it before they could light the match. The two idiots were arrested and Monday gave the flag to one of the security guards.
It was before cable, although the game may have been on WGN Chicago. Anyway, I remember reading about it the next day and catching a quick bit on the evening news.
We salute Rick Monday for saving the flag and a good baseball career.
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