MLB, Bayer Make Pact to Battle Prostate Cancer
Major League Baseball Properties and Bayer HealthCare’s One A Day Multivitamins are taking a swing at preventing prostate cancer in a four-year deal that will raise money for research based on strikeouts.
One A Day and MLBP will donate $10 to the Prostate Cancer Foundation for each strikeout recorded in MLB regular season and playoff games this season. (That number will likely exceed 30,000 strikeouts this year.) As part of the “One A Day presents MLB Strikeout Prostate Challenge, the vitamin brand also pledged to make a $1 million contribution to the PCF if a major league pitcher breaks the record of 20 strikeouts in a nine-inning game this season.
“Wellness is very important to us as an industry,” said Tim Brosnan, MLB executive vice president of business.
One A Day will soon air MLB-branded TV ads, according to Jay Kolpon, Bayer HealthCare vice president of marketing. MLB Productions will also craft vignettes to support the promotion.
“We’re happy to contribute to the Prostate Cancer Foundation’s work against this disease,” Kolpon said.
Chicago White Sox slugger Jim Thome, whose grandfather is a prostate cancer survivor, and Rich “Goose” Gossage, former Yankees relief pitcher and Baseball Hall of Fame inductee will serve as spokesman for the campaign.
“To be a part of this means a lot to me,” said Gossage, who said his former Yankee teammate, Craig Nettles, recently underwent prostate surgery.
One A Day plans to stage events around Thome and Gossage, Kolpon said.
The Prostate Cancer Foundation is in the 11th year of another MLB promotion, which has fans pledging money for prostate cancer research for home runs hit during select games during the week preceding Father’s Day.
