History
Loading the bases
In 1953, fans "voted" for their favorite players by dropping their contribution to the Jimmy Fund in one of the slots of the Jimmy Fund Contribution Ball.
Spreading the Jimmy Fund cause quickly became a crusade of Yawkey's. A Dana-Farber trustee for nearly 25 years, Yawkey constantly encouraged players to visit the children at the Jimmy Fund Clinic and to attend numerous fundraising events, from celebrity roasts and sport nights to golf tournaments and check presentations.
"In adopting the Jimmy Fund as the Red Sox' charity, Mr. Yawkey adopted generations of children with cancer," said the late Ken Coleman, veteran sportscaster and Jimmy Fund devotee. The longtime "Voice of the Red Sox" also served as the Jimmy Fund's executive director from 1978 to 1984. "He went to bat for the youngsters in more ways than one."
Three of the Jimmy Fund's earliest advocates - Red Sox great Ted Williams, owner Tom Yawkey, and Dana-Farber founder Sidney Farber, MD.
And the players followed Yawkey's lead. In addition to Williams' unwavering support of the Jimmy Fund throughout his extraordinary baseball career, many other Sox — among them Johnny Pesky, Bobby Doerr, and Dom DiMaggio — stepped up to the plate for the Jimmy Fund during the early years of the partnership.
Learn more about players and the Jimmy Fund
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