A PITCH FOR VETS
Every Memorial Day and Fourth of July, MLB players wear military-themed uniforms. Every game, the Mets and most other teams across the league honor a local veteran in their ballparks.
MLB gives away hundreds of thousands of tickets each year to veterans and has made over $32 million in contributions to its Welcome Back Veterans program. Players, owners and clubs have made personal commitments to veteran groups like Wounded Warriors and the Home Base Program, which supports the needs of veterans who suffer from the “invisible wounds of war.”
On Friday, in honor of Veteran’s Day, MLB announced that it will provide a $250,000 grant to the Headstrong Project to support its efforts to provide comprehensive mental health care to post-9/11 military veterans, service members and their family members.
In a time when the public support for veterans has become such a divisive issue in the country and in sports, baseball’s commitment to the military and the veterans has been seen as beyond reproach.
But, that image was punctured last month when Nick Francona’s complaints about what he called baseball’s hypocritical attitude towards veterans working in baseball resurfaced.
The son of Cleveland manager Terry Francona and a Marine veteran who served in Afghanistan, Francona made public his concerns about the lack of support for and employment of veterans in MLB with a personal complaint against the Dodgers.
Since 2001, more than 2.5 million people have been deployed to support military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Francona is just one of the estimated 200,000 veterans returning to civilian life each year trying to return to a civilian workplace.
For Francona, now the Assistant Director of Player Development with the Mets, in baseball he has found the experience insulting, frustrating and cause for change.
Francona claimed that he was fired from a player development position with the Dodgers under director of player development Gabe Kapler because of his status as a veteran. In a January letter to MLB, he alleged that, according to Josh Byrnes, Director of Baseball Operations, Kapler told the Dodgers front office that Francona had been “too hardened” and “ruined” by his experience in the military.
This was a dramatic change in his relationship with Kapler, Francona wrote, and he surmised it was a direct result of him seeking an assessment with the Home Base Program, the veterans foundation that deals with mental-health issues, including but not limited to Post-Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injury.
The complaint came to light last month when the Phillies named Kapler their new manager. MLB cleared the Dodgers and Kapler. The team claimed his termination was the result of a personality clash. Francona, who was paid through his contract, reportedly declined two settlement offers and did not file suit.
But Francona said he will continue to fight for veterans’ issues within baseball.
“While I strongly disagree with the results of Major League Baseball’s investigation, I will nonetheless work with them to improve their engagement with military veterans and will take on a leadership role in these initiatives,” Francona said in a statement when asked for reaction to Kapler’s hiring. “The New York Mets have been extremely supportive throughout