Since July 1939, when New York Yankees’ first baseman, Lou Gehrig made his famous retirement speech ALS and baseball have been closely intertwined with the baseball community making a tremendous effort to raise awareness for ALS research in many different ways.
On August 17, 2017, the Old Time Baseball Game was hosted in honor of NESN cameraman John Martin, which featured players from college and minor leagues along with Red Sox legend, Pedro Martinez coming out of retirement to pitch.
Now in 2019, a new crew in Boston are determined to keep up the fight to #EndALS. Team Cafe Martin and the Boston K Men are raising funds and awareness for ALS research at ALS TDI in honor of John Martin who passed from ALS in October of 2018.
John worked for NESN for 19 years, traveling with and filming the Boston Red Sox and Boston Bruins - he was loved by everyone in the community. His home, shared with his wife Adrienne and their two daughters, became known as “Cafe Martin.” Then when John was diagnosed in October 2016, Team Cafe Martin became a rallying cry for their community.
Since John passed, Adrienne has been working to continue his legacy by raising funds for ALS research. She even has plans for Cafe Martin to come in monthly to the ALS TDI labs to #FeedTheScientists.
Along with Cafe Martin, the Boston K Men are helping to raise funds and awareness for ALS research too. The Boston K Men formed in 1998 when Pedro Martinez was pitching for the Red Sox, to count strikeouts throughout the game. Every year they choose a charity to support through their merchandise sales and this year it was pretty clear to them that they wanted to support ALS TDI in honor of John. You can buy your Boston K Men apparel here.
Team Cafe Martin and the Boston K Men will all be representing ALS TDI on the field at the next ALS Awareness Game at Fenway Park on June 21, 2019.