The Man Who Saved The Day

The Patriot from Chicago

Harry Caray, Wrigley Field, Ernie Banks and the famous ivy covered outfield wall are synonymous with the team currently leading the National League Central Division in Major League Baseball; the Chicago Cubs. The club that plays in the Windy City reeled in thousands of baseball fans in years past by playing before a national television audience on the Chicago based WGN-TV cable station known as the “Superstation.” Add another name to the list of notable players in the facility located due South of Waveland Avenue. His name is Rick Monday.

On April 25, 1976, the Los Angeles Dodgers came calling for just another day at the ballpark between the two NL foes. This would end as a day remembered throughout the test of time.

Rick Monday was born in Batesville, Ark., played 19 seasons in the major leagues and ended his career with a lifetime average of .264. He had an average career and appeared in two All-Star games. This day inside Wrigley Field had nothing to do with numbers and everything to do with his love of the country we live in.

While playing centerfield for the Cubs, Monday noticed two men jumping onto the field and kneeling down in the outfield. In one hand of the trespassers was the American flag, the other a box of matches. A light went off in Monday’s head. So many memories came to mind in the former United States Marine Corps head. The men were about to burn the flag in protest.

“My first thought was to bowl them over but instead, I reached down and grabbed the flag.” Monday said. “It smelled of lighter fluid and I wanted to make sure it was not on fire.”

Upon the retrieval, Monday handed the flag to a Dodger player and headed back to the outfield as the two men were hurried off the field by security personnel. To this day, baseball remains “America’s Pastime.”

Following an uncomfortable silence, a portion of the bleachers begins to sing “God Bless America.” The song penetrated the revered stadium until the capacity crowd bellows the beloved tune in unison.

Not long ago, Major League baseball named the heroic act one of the top 100 plays in baseball.

When asked if Monday is upset he is remembered as the person who kept the flag from being burned, rather than his two All-Star game appearances, he replied, “So many men and women died fighting for that flag, I consider it an honor to be apart of history that maintains the flag as a symbolism of hope and love of our country.”

So many times, we forget the sacrifices our men in women in uniform provide for our country. We are able to perform daily tasks because of the freedoms we have grown to appreciate. Throughout our everyday lives, so many people have given back to our country with patriotic acts. On that day in 1976, Rick Morgan put his name baseball history.