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JERSEY GIRL. Lizzie Raudenbush of the Rainiers staffs the auction table where a Rainier jersey is on display.

Rainiers jersey auction helps outfit those in real need

By Rick Walter

Guys were flying all over the field, making dramatic stops and great slides. The Rainiers’ man on the pitcher’s mound was getting a standing ovation. And the baseball game had not even started yet.

The Colorado Springs Sky Sox were in town, but on July 3 at Cheney Stadium, baseball shared the evening with an Independence Day fireworks show and other special attractions. Before the game, skydivers dropped out of the sky onto the field in colorful parachutes and executed landings that ranged from masterful to interesting. The team’s popular radio announcer, Mike Curto, always both masterful and interesting, was presented with a framed, signed Rainiers jersey by manager Daren Brown. Curto’s 10 years of service was saluted by the largest crowd of the season and by club president Aaron Artman and the entire staff of the Rainiers front office, which formed a long line along the first-base line for handshakes and embraces.

But another special event was occurring on the concourse behind the stadium – an auction of Rainiers jerseys to benefit the Limbs for Life Foundation, a global nonprofit organization dedicated to providing prosthetic care for people who cannot otherwise afford it. Right alongside the vendors selling hats, shirts, sausages, sodas, beer – all the regular baseball stuff – a long table stood with a department-store type display of a red, white and blue Rainiers jersey, one of more than 30 such jerseys that were being auctioned off to the highest bidders, with the proceeds going to people who literally need arms and legs.

The Rainiers’ auction raised $5,905, which will definitely help the effort. The bids were accepted during the game through the end of the sixth inning. A few minutes after that, the winners were announced. More than 100 people had participated in the bidding. The most popular items: Mumba Rivera’s jersey went for $375, Matt Tuiasosopo’s fetched $350, and Wladimir Balentien’s was sold for $300.

Limbs for Life co-founder Craig Gavras is an amputee himself. He was a policeman in Dallas, and in 1993 he lost his right leg after being beaten by a mob. With the support of the police department and his health care plan, he was able to get the kind of quality prosthetic care that he knows many people cannot afford. So he began Limbs for Life to help some of those other amputees have an opportunity to return to productive jobs and normal lifestyles.

One of his early efforts at fundraising back in 1997 was riding his bicycle from Oklahoma City to Dallas, and winding up in Texas Stadium for the halftime of a Dallas Cowboys game. More recently, he engaged Minor League Baseball to join his effort, creating a project to help amputees in the Dominican Republic.

“There are many amputees in the Dominican that would not be able to walk without the help of Limbs for Life. It’s a very poor country and we are able to do our work there with the help of the Rainiers and all of baseball,” Gavras said from his office in Oklahoma City.

His organization gets prosthetic care to about 700 people a year, and they are able to do this with donated labor at the clinics and donated components from manufacturers. His own prosthetic, for example, cost about $28,000 and has a hydraulic knee. The average above-the-knee prosthetic goes for about $16,500, but Limbs for Life can do it for about $2,000.

Other prosthetic care for below-the-knee, or for arms, can be accomplished for between $300 and $1,500.

At the Minor League Baseball winter meetings, all the Triple-A teams agreed to do fundraisers for the foundation during the season. The Rainiers chose their best-attended game of the year to do theirs. With the tradition of the July 3rd Fireworks Extravaganza and the jersey auction (a popular tradition) happening on the same night, they figured maximum proceeds would be generated for Limbs for Life.

The proceeds from the Rainier’s auction could benefit 15 to 20 amputees, depending on the components needed to repair their injuries. Given that about 3,000 people lose a limb each week in the United States alone (diabetes and accidents are the primary causes), and many of those cannot afford a $20-stump sock, helping bring this health issue to public awareness is a noble accomplishment.

Gavras, because he can speak firsthand about the experience of losing a limb, creates the kind of awareness that one hopes extends an event like the one the Rainiers operated into even more fan support for his mission.

“When I woke up and found out...I didn’t want to look at it. I didn’t want to accept it,” Gavras said. “I could not look at my shadow for a very long time. It wasn’t a complete shadow. I didn’t feel like a whole person.”

On a night when some of the most able-bodied athletes were competing in a baseball game and great fans were competing for an awesome piece of memorabilia – a player’s jersey – the Rainiers were doing their part to help others be able to compete a little better with everyday life.

It was a good night for jerseys. Curto got a pretty cool one. Some 31 fans took one home after the auction. And a few more folks will be able to wear their favorite ones over a new arm.

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