Would your guy have saved the Flag like Rick Monday?

Question

On my way to the Stadium now to watch the Dodgers & Clayton Kershaw take on the Cubs.  Tonight is Rick Monday "Flag-Saving" Bobblehead night..

For those unfamiliar with the story, the Cubs were visiting Dodger Stadium in1976.  Monday, then the Cubs right fielder was warming up between innings when two young men ran out onto the field from the stands.  The men knelt down and unfolded what appeared to be an American flag on the field...before security could reach the men, they started dousing the flag with lighter fluid...then one lit a lighter.

Before they could set fire to the flag, Monday sprinted from his position, snatched the flag from the ground and handed it to stadium security.  He got a standing ovation from the Los Angeles crowd and the story remains part of Dodger Lore.

So special is the memory in the Dodger family that they made the unprecedented move of having a Bobblehead Night featuring a player in a visiting team's uniform....Monday, in his Cubs uni, in the act of grabbing the flag off the ground.

Monday has said time and time again that "any player would have done the same thing."  This got me thinking...who is the Right Fielder for your team right now... and if this happened on your field tonight, do you think he would do the same thing?

...and is this a big deal for you?

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

It's definitely a big deal. What the protesters were trying to do to the flag was wrong and it was a slap in the face to all the troops, and families of the troops who lost their lives, who fought to defend the our (and those protester's) rights and freedom. I've never understood why an American would want to desecrate our flag.

I also wonder if, facing the same situation, a player would intervene today. Sadly, I think not. What do you think?

? · Answer

Back in '76, Monday was a $30,000 year right fielder and stadium security was at about $1.50 an hour. Today's multi millionaire right fielders wouldn't want to get involved and the higher amount of post 9/11 security would be all over any on field perpetrators.

Plus with the multi-national amount of MLB players, a MLB right fielder is less likely to be American and wouldn't come forward to defend the US flag..

Plus with the multi-national amount of MLB players, a MLB right fielder is less likely to be American and wouldn't come forward to defend the US flag..

? · Answer

I do remember that event and I hate to say it but I don't think there are many players that would do that today....this is very much the "me" generation, and as Monday states "any player would of done the same thing" may of been true in 1976, I really do not think it would be as common as he thinks.

Player's are all about "me" and they would let the security at the game take care of it.....Not a big Rick Monday fan,, but I do think that what he did that day was "heroic".   

Padres right fielder is either Denorfia or Venable, and I think they are both great guys, but I do not see them going to the extent that Monday did......

Would your guy have saved the Flag like Rick Monday?

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