polish
04-26-2006, 09:04 AM
Monday ought to be one of your favorite baseball players because 30 years ago -- on April 25, 1976, in the fourth inning at Dodger Stadium -- he refused to stand by and allow two protesting punks to burn the American flag on the outfield grass.
"I don't know anybody who wouldn't have done the same thing, if they were in the same position," Monday was saying the other day from Los Angeles, where he threw out the ceremonial first pitch Sunday as the Dodgers celebrated the anniversary of his heroics with a video tribute. "I'm just glad I was close enough to do something about it.''
Do something? Monday did plenty.
And he vividly remembers every detail.
He was playing center field for the visiting Chicago Cubs when he noticed an unusual buzz in the crowd.
"Ballparks have their own personality, and all of a sudden the personality of Dodger Stadium changed," Monday recalled, obviously replaying the scene in his mind. "There had to be some kind of commotion, because the noise came at the wrong moment, when there was nothing happening on the field. So I knew something was out of kilter. I didn't know what it was, but my first thought was, 'Oh, here we go again.'
"You've got to remember: Back in the '70s, we had all kinds of people running onto the field. Streakers, drunks, people doing it for a bet ... But I could tell from the crowd that this was different.''
So Monday looked around, and that's when he noticed that two dolts had jumped the outfield fence and one of them was carrying an American flag. It wasn't until he saw that these depraved dirtbags had stopped in left-center field, knelt down and were dousing the flag with lighter fluid, however, that he sprung into action.
"Fortunately," he said, "the first match blew out."
Fortunately, Monday arrived as the second match was lit. He angrily shoved the amateur arsonists and snatched the flag away.
"You're darn right, I was mad," Monday said. "What they were trying to do was wrong. It was wrong in 1976, and I still think it's wrong today. And it's wrong for a lot of reasons. That flag represents all the rights and freedoms that we have in this country. If you desecrate the flag, you desecrate the efforts of all the people who fought and died to protect those rights and freedoms.
"I'm sure those feelings were reinforced by six years in the United States Marine Corps Reserve, but I just couldn't let that happen.''
And judging by the public's response to his rousing rescue, most of America was thrilled that he didn't. Monday, 60, has received thousands of letters from people across America -- especially from war veterans and active members of the military -- praising his patriotic performance. Even now, three decades later, the mail keeps coming. Many of the letters are written by fans who weren't yet born when the incident occurred.
Cool Story :gig:
"I don't know anybody who wouldn't have done the same thing, if they were in the same position," Monday was saying the other day from Los Angeles, where he threw out the ceremonial first pitch Sunday as the Dodgers celebrated the anniversary of his heroics with a video tribute. "I'm just glad I was close enough to do something about it.''
Do something? Monday did plenty.
And he vividly remembers every detail.
He was playing center field for the visiting Chicago Cubs when he noticed an unusual buzz in the crowd.
"Ballparks have their own personality, and all of a sudden the personality of Dodger Stadium changed," Monday recalled, obviously replaying the scene in his mind. "There had to be some kind of commotion, because the noise came at the wrong moment, when there was nothing happening on the field. So I knew something was out of kilter. I didn't know what it was, but my first thought was, 'Oh, here we go again.'
"You've got to remember: Back in the '70s, we had all kinds of people running onto the field. Streakers, drunks, people doing it for a bet ... But I could tell from the crowd that this was different.''
So Monday looked around, and that's when he noticed that two dolts had jumped the outfield fence and one of them was carrying an American flag. It wasn't until he saw that these depraved dirtbags had stopped in left-center field, knelt down and were dousing the flag with lighter fluid, however, that he sprung into action.
"Fortunately," he said, "the first match blew out."
Fortunately, Monday arrived as the second match was lit. He angrily shoved the amateur arsonists and snatched the flag away.
"You're darn right, I was mad," Monday said. "What they were trying to do was wrong. It was wrong in 1976, and I still think it's wrong today. And it's wrong for a lot of reasons. That flag represents all the rights and freedoms that we have in this country. If you desecrate the flag, you desecrate the efforts of all the people who fought and died to protect those rights and freedoms.
"I'm sure those feelings were reinforced by six years in the United States Marine Corps Reserve, but I just couldn't let that happen.''
And judging by the public's response to his rousing rescue, most of America was thrilled that he didn't. Monday, 60, has received thousands of letters from people across America -- especially from war veterans and active members of the military -- praising his patriotic performance. Even now, three decades later, the mail keeps coming. Many of the letters are written by fans who weren't yet born when the incident occurred.
Cool Story :gig: