Rescue of American Flag From Protesters 50 Years Ago Still Resonating With Baseball Fans

Former MLB All-Star Rick Monday is in Cooperstown, New York, this Memorial Day weekend with the American flag he rescued 50 years ago.

On the third floor of exhibits at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum sits a faded, slightly torn flag encased in a glass box for visitors to study. Loaned by Monday through Labor Day weekend, this particular patriotic cloth has a unique story that dwarfs many of the game-used collectibles housed in baseball’s depository for safekeeping. Coming to light during the United States’s Bicentennial, when Monday was the Chicago Cubs’ starting center fielder, having the flag, for the first time, to be available for public viewing during America’s Semiquincentennial seems only appropriate.

The man and the story behind the American flag being talked about this weekend in the 87-year-old museum remains one of the game’s most heroic plays, though it was made sans the usual equipment of bat, ball, and glove.

At the start of the early afternoon game between the visiting Cubs with the hometown Los Angeles Dodgers, there was nothing to lead one to believe that anything different was in the works. Monday would have a productive day at the plate with five at-bats, collecting three hits and scoring twice. Dodgers’ fans would head for the exits at game’s end, happy with a 5–4 Los Angeles victory. The majority of them didn’t think that they would be standing in unison singing “God Bless America” during the bottom of the fourth inning, either.

Stationed in his center field position, Monday witnessed two men come over the outfield wall. Perplexed as anyone would be watching the trespassers run onto the field, Monday observed the men place an American flag on the grass field and douse it with a liquid. As it was discovered later, it was lighter fluid, but before they could set the flag on fire, Monday dashed toward them and scooped up Old Glory for the save. The men were escorted off the field, and Monday, who served a six-year commitment in the United States Marine Corps Reserve, became the most popular member of the visiting team on April 25, 1976, at Dodger Stadium.

“He made me very proud to be an American,” Steve Swisher, Chicago’s starting catcher in the game in which his center fielder made the heroic move, told The Epoch Times on Saturday. “From then on my name for him was Captain America. A lot of people talk the talk, but Mo’s action showed him walk the walk. The whole incident was quite eerie. Two guys hopped the wall between center and left field, and began squirting a liquid on the flag, but somehow they couldn’t light it. He did what he did, I believe, to make a stand for America.”

With the National Baseball Hall of Fame paying tribute to service and sacrifice of the U.S. military this weekend, Monday’s presence was most fitting.

“That turned out to be a huge day in Dodger history. It also turned out to be a great day for Rick Monday and the American flag,” former Dodgers pitcher Charlie Hough told The Epoch Times on Saturday from his home in California. At the time it was just another ballgame. I may not have been in the bullpen yet. Then, after what Rick did, you realize how important it was. He was a terrific player and a great teammate.”

Hough, who in relief was credited with the 5–4 Dodgers win (his first of the season) of the heroic game, was in opposite dugouts that day with Monday. However, they would become fast friends and teammates for the following four seasons in Los Angeles, winning back-to-back National League pennants in 1977 and 1978.

“[Hall of Fame President] Josh [Rawitch] and I had a delightful dinner in spring training a year ago, and [he] brought up the idea and said, ‘Hey, we’d like to display the flag. It’s going to be a big celebration in our country, the 250th, and how can we make this work,” Monday recalled on Friday in the museum’s Grandstand Theater, according to to baseballhall.org. “Barbaralee and I thought about it and said, ‘We’re all in. Let’s do this.’ To see that display today, to me, it is very heartwarming. It’s overwhelming to see the reaction of the people that see the display that they put together.”

A seven-inning legends game consisting of retired MLB players scheduled for historic Doubleday Field down the street from the baseball museum was also planned for Saturday. Monday, now 80, was scheduled to appear for Team Stars managed by Hall of Famer Tony La Russa, penciled in as a designated hitter. Unfortunately, the game was canceled due to inclement weather.

Regardless, Robert James “Rick” Monday Jr., who was the first player selected in the inaugural 1965 Major League Baseball Draft, is giving back to the public that has supported him throughout his career, including while broadcasting Dodgers’ games since 1993. Monday took a stand 50 years ago for a symbol of America and her values, and the applause continues.