Let’s flashback to April 25, 1976, when a couple of protestors ran out onto the field at Dodger Stadium during a game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs with the intentions of burning the American Flag.
As you are about to see, Cubs outfielder Rick Monday was not about to let that happen on his watch and he comes flying in the last second to grab the flag, which was doused in lighter fluid.
Check it out.
Today In 1976: Chicago #Cubs outfielder Rick Monday saves the American Flag from being burned at Dodger Stadium! #MLB #Baseball #History pic.twitter.com/lXUN3EWHNc
— Baseball by BSmile (@BSmile) April 25, 2021
Following the game, Monday explained to reporters why he did what he did.
“I don’t know what I was thinking,” said Monday, who had spent six years in the Marine Corp reserve. “But I knew what they were doing was wrong.”
“If you’re going to burn the flag, don’t do it around me,” Monday said after the game, won by the Dodgers 5–4 in 10 innings. “I’ve been to too many veterans’ hospitals and seen too many broken bodies of guys who tried to protect it.”
