The Day Rick Monday Made One of Baseball’s Most Patriotic Plays

On this episode of Our American Stories, Rick Monday’s career spanned more than a decade in Major League Baseball, but one defining moment had nothing to do with a bat or glove. In the spring of 1976 at Dodger Stadium, he intervened when protesters tried to set fire to the American flag in the middle of a game. His quick reaction, caught on camera, made him an unlikely national hero and turned an ordinary afternoon at the ballpark into one of the most memorable moments in baseball history. Veteran and Our American Stories regular contributor, Blake Stilwell, shares the story. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American
people coming to you from the city where the West begins,
Fort Worth, Texas. Up next to the story about the
greatest play in baseball history. And I know what you're thinking,
that perfect game pitched way back when in Yankee Stadium,

(00:30):
or maybe that great catch by Willie Mays, or the
Hanka Aaron home run that broke the Major League Baseball
home run record. That's none of those. Here to tell
the story of the greatest play ever made in a
baseball stadium. Is Blake Stillwell, our regular contributor, Take it away, Blake.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
On April twenty fifth, seventy six, amid the national pride
of America's bi centennial year, one of Major League Baseball's
most unforgettable moments unfolded at Dodger Stadium. Nothe in the
form of a dramatic home run or a game winning pitch,
but through an act of patriotism. Rick Monday's name may

(01:22):
not ring a bell for younger MLB fans, but it's
a guarantee your elders know who he is.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
That ball is on a here and a home run
for Rick Monday and the Dodger bench players. They congratulate Rick.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
Besides being the top prospect for the nineteen sixty five
Major League Baseball Draft and playing for the Athletics, Cubs,
and Dodgers over nineteen seasons and winning a World Series
with Los Angeles, Monday is actually best known for defending
the American flag in the middle of a baseball game.

(01:56):
On that fateful day, the Cubs were facing off against
the Dodger in a closely contested matchup at the bottom
of the fourth inning, two strangely dressed hippies made their
way out on the baseball field and crouched down in
left center of the outfield. There they began dousing an
American flag in kerosene, preparing to set old Glory ablaze.
It was supposed to be an active protest, filmed on

(02:19):
live TV right there in front of Dodger Stadium the
United States and the world. But after the batter and
play hit a pop fly, Monday noticed the commotion. As
a former US Marine Corps Reserve member and a man
with deep respect for the flag and the country it represents,
Monday did not hesitate. He sprinted towards the men and

(02:40):
snatched the flag from the ground just in time.

Speaker 3 (02:43):
All I'm not sure what he's doing out there. It
looks like he's gonna burn a flag, and Rick thanks
away from it.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
The crowd erupted in applause and shears as he sees
heard the flag and continued running with it toward the dugout.

Speaker 3 (03:04):
Well. I got to lose him on Monday. When he
realized what he was gonna do, Racecover took the flag
away from him.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
The act was met with an overwhelming emotional response from fans.
After the inning ended, the stadium spontaneously broke into a
rendition of God Bless America. Then, as Monday stepped up
to bat in the top of the fifth inning, the
Dodger Stadium scoreboard lit up with a message of gratitude

(03:35):
and admiration. Rick Monday, you made a great play. If
you're going to burn the flag, don't do it around me,
he said. I've been to too many veterans hospitals and
seen too many broken bodies of guys who tried to
protect it.

Speaker 4 (03:51):
It's the way I was brought up to respect it
and those that really carried the rights and freedoms that
all of us have if we exercise those reinforced by
six years serving in the Marine Reserves while I was
playing Major League baseball.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
Monday received the flag as a gift after it was
no longer evidence in a criminal case.

Speaker 4 (04:10):
But the ivory of it is taking the flag away
from those two guys that Sunday afternoon at Dodger Steadia.
My wife and I have that flag and we take
it around the country and raise money. Helped raise money
for military charities. And that's important because we are where
we are and it needs to be improved, and we're
the ones that can improve it. But a lot of

(04:30):
people represented the rights and freedoms that that flag represents,
and some paid the ultimate price that affected a lot
of families.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
In twenty sixteen, on the fortieth anniversary of the event,
Monday said, the very symbol that represents the rights and
freedoms for all of us in this country is the flag.
The very flag that two guys were trying to desecrate
on this field forty years ago has helped raise money
for military charities. It continues to live long after I'm gone.

(05:05):
This is something my family will continue to do. We've
had a great response all around this country. Rick Monday's
actions that day continue to be celebrated not only as
a proud moment in sports history, but as a rare
instance when athletic instinct aligned perfectly with personal conviction and
national values. And a year devoted to commemorating America's founding,

(05:29):
a simple decisive act by a ballplayer reminded the country
that patriotism can show itself in unexpected places, even in
the middle of a baseball game.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
And a terrific job where the production, editing and storytelling
by Iron Monty Montgomery and Reagan Habib and a special
thanks to Blake Stillwell who writes for We Are the Mighty.
And there was a former Air Force worse combat videographer
and journalist, and what a story he told. That was
the two hundredth anniversary. And if something like that happened

(06:09):
today on a baseball field, we can only hope that
a ballplayer would do the same thing. There are times
and places for protests. Burning the American flag in front
of a guy who served six years in the Marine Corps, Well,
that just wasn't going to fly. And by the way,
Monday did more than that. He then took that flag

(06:30):
and Well went around the country raising money for veterans
because so many people remembered that great play. And again
we started off with a teaser, the greatest play in
baseball history, and folks, there's no other play like it.
Go to YouTube and watch it. The speed with which
Monday made that move. Within seconds, that flag would have

(06:51):
been a blaze. The story of the day, Rick Monday
saved the flag from being burned by a couple of
hippies at Dodgers. Here on our American Stories Leah Abibe here,

(07:30):
and I'm inviting you to help our American Stories celebrate
this country's two hundred and fiftieth birthday only a short
time away. If you want to help inspire countless others
to love America like we do, and want to help
us bring the inspiring and important stories told ear to
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(07:52):
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