Thirty-two years ago today Chicago Cub outfielder Rick Monday made a great play. When two protestors attempted to burn the U.S. flag on the field at Dodger stadium on April 25, 1976, Monday swiped the flag from the pair, an act that motivated the crowd of more than 30,000 to break into a spontaneous rendition of “God Bless America.”
The scoreboard lit up with the message, “Rick Monday, you made a great play,” for the visiting player and future Dodger. It was ranked as one of the 100 greatest moments in baseball history by Baseball Hall of Fame visitors.
Monday, who served in the Marine Corps Reserves, is a member of American Legion Post 211 in Woodward, Iowa. A broadcaster for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Monday also serves on the board of the Citizen’s Flag Alliance which is working to pass a flag protection amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
“The American flag means so much to our country, especially our veterans,” Monday said at The American Legion’s National Convention last summer. “In my mind, what the protestors were trying to do was wrong. It was wrong 31 years ago and it is still wrong today. There is no place for it.”
Currently, the proposed flag amendment sits in the U.S. House of Representatives where Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., is the sponsor of H.J. Resolution 12, which is backed by The American Legion.
