An 8-year-old girl wowed the crowd at Dodger Stadium with a powerful rendition of the nation anthem on Father's Day.
As Yorba Linda's Madison Taylor Baez finished her amazing performance her father, who is recovering from Stage 4 colon cancer, ran toward Madison at home plate to give her a hug. Chris Baez credits his daughter and her voice with helping him through his health problems.
As it has since 1996, Major League Baseball used Father's Day to raise awareness about prostate cancer and raise funds for research to fight the disease. For the fourth consecutive year, players wore specially designed caps featuring a light blue crown to accent team colors on the brim and logo.
Blue is the official color for prostate cancer awareness. Players and all other on-field personnel wore the symbolic blue ribbon on their uniforms and blue wristbands. Players also had the option to wear multi-pattern blue-dyed socks, as well as light blue compression sleeves, batting gloves, footwear, wrist/elbow/leg guards and catcher's equipment, and use light blue bats.
All royalties for the sales of Father's Day caps and apparel emblazoned with the symbolic blue ribbon will be donated to the Prostate Cancer Foundation and Stand Up To Cancer, an effort to accelerate innovative cancer research that will get new therapies to patients quickly.
Commemorative base jewels and dugout lineup cards also were blue.
Sunday marked the conclusion of the Santa Monica-based Prostate Cancer Foundation's 24th annual Home Run Challenge where fans can make a one-time monetary donation or pledge for every home run hit by their favorite MLB team from June 1-19.
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Every dollar donated through the Home Run Challenge goes to the foundation to fund critical research to defeat prostate cancer. More than $1.33 million has been donated via the Home Run Challenge in 2019, according to the foundation.
Since its inception, the Home Run Challenge has raised more than $51 million for the Prostate Cancer Foundation, which was founded in 1993 and has funded nearly $800 million of cutting-edge research by 2,200 scientists at 220 cancer centers in 22 nations.
The foundation says its research impacts 67 forms of human cancer by focusing on immunotherapy, the microbiome and food as medicine.
It was a just one of the Father's Day events at Dodger Stadium, where fans could play catch on the field following the Los Angeles Dodgers-Chicago Cubs game.
The Father's Day theme also included children of Dodger players throwing first pitches to their fathers.
