All 30 Major League Baseball teams will show their support for the Parkland, Florida community and the survivors of the Florida school shooting this week by wearing special caps in the opening game of their spring training schedules. The caps will then be signed and auctioned to benefit the Broward Education Foundation, which will benefit the official Stoneman Douglas High School Victims’ Fund.
Fourteen students and three staff members were killed on February 14 when a former student at the school opened fire on campus.
Players on teams which train in south Florida were the first to suggest the idea of wearing the caps but the idea quickly spread to other teams, including those training in Arizona. logo on it. The caps are being produced on a rush order by New Era, MLB’s official cap company. They’ll carry the school’s own baseball cap logo on the front.
“It’s awesome,” Cubs first baseman and Stoneman Douglas alumnus Anthony Rizzo told reporters Wednesday. “There’s obviously deeper ties for me than the rest of the league. But it’s really neat that major league baseball’s recognizing what happened.”
The caps will be worn in pregame workouts Friday and teams can also wear them during their games that day. The Royals and Rangers, who are off on Friday, will wear theirs on Saturday. Caps will be provided to all players, coaches and umpires.
The caps will be gathered and signed, then will likely be placed up for auction on the MLB Auctions website over a period of weeks.