The 2009 RAB Pledge Drive

April 3, 2009 by Mike Axisa 32 Comments

Last year we decided to use the popularity of RAB for some good, creating a pledge drive dedicated to raising money for The Jorge Posada Foundation. We based the pledges on the number of strikeouts recorded by The Big Three of Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain and Ian Kennedy, and even though things didn’t go according to plan we still raised $1050 for Posada’s cause.

The pledge drive was so successful last year that we’re going to do it again this year, except we’re going to change things up a bit. Instead of strikeouts from young pitchers, we’re going with offense baby. Basically what we want to do is have you guys, the readers, pledge some amount of money for every run the Yankees score this year. SG’s projection blowout has the Yanks scoring somewhere around 850 runs this year, so if you pledge $0.03 per run, that’s just a $25.50 donation on your part. I know we’re in a pretty brutal recession, but any pledge is welcome, even if we’re talking just one penny per run.

All donations with year will benefit Joe Torre’s Safe At Home Foundation, which is dedicated to “educating to end the cycle of domestic violence and save lives”. You can learn all about the Foundation at it’s website, and you can also watch a message from Torre explaining why he started Safe At Home by clicking here. No child should ever have to be in fear at their home, and we hope you’ll help us support Joe in his fight against domestic violence.

Last year we collected the donations at the end of the year via PayPal, personal check or money order, and we’ll do the same thing this year. That’s something to worry about at the end of the season though. If you wish to pledge – and we hope you do – just send an email to me at mike (at) riveraveblues (dot) com, letting me know how much you wish to pledge. Please put something like “Pledge Drive” in the subject line to make the admin work easier.

Thank you in advance, and let’s go Yankees!

http://twitter.com/tsjc68 tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside

I’m in.

(And kudos for picking Torre’s charity even though he’s no longer the best friend of the team anymore. Very big of you.)
- jsbrendog
  
  just further tarnishing the credibility
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Benjamin Kabak
  
  Joe Torre = known socialist. That’s why we picked the Green Tea Man.
  - Mike Pop
    
    Heh.
Yankeegirl49

My email has been sent.
Mike Pop

Where the ballers at, 10 dollars a run?
- http://twitter.com/tsjc68 tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside
  
  I thought about that.
  
  Then I realized that when the Yankees shatter the MLB record by scoring 1,245 runs this year on the way to Championship #27, I’d be out a cool $12,450 dollars.
  
  No way am I spending down the entirety of my pre-emptive legal defense fund.
  - Mike Pop
    
    Ha. I gotta hit a g a week for life.
Albert

I’d donate if it was the Posada foundation. Really surprising that you guys went with the torre foundation this year considering how many yankee fans are feeling pretty sour about him right now.
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike Axisa
  
  It’s not about how we feel about Torre, it’s about the children.
  - http://twitter.com/tsjc68 tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside
    
    Trick luv da keeds.
  - jsbrendog
    
    WONT SOMEONE PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN
- Mike Pop
  
  ……… It’s not like you’re giving the money to Torre. You’re helping out people in general either way, and Torre’s is a very good cause. I think you’re kind of being an asshole for saying “oh well, if this was Jorge’s I would but Torre screwed us, so I don’t care bout this kind of problem”. Just my opinion, though.
  - jsbrendog
    
    +1
  - Albert
    
    I agree, but that’s just how I feel and I’m being honest about it. It probably does make me an asshole but i’m sure there are hundreds of other assholes out there who would donate if this was not Joe Torre’s fund.
    
    I wouldn’t donate to an A-Rod or Clemens foundation because I don’t support them and with hundreds of other foundations to choose from with people I do support at the helm, why donate to this one? Would you donate to a Red Sox foundation or a Derek Jeter foundation if given the choice?
    - Mike Pop
      
      If Jeter’s foundation was funding his new house, and the Sox were trying to help out the AIDS epidemic in Africa. I’d rather donate to the Sawx, but who am I kidding, the Sawx would never have a fund like that.
      - Mike Pop
        
        But I didn’t mean to directly call you an asshole but I meant your thinking was. ?
        
        Albert
        
        I didn’t really take offense to it, I do think it’s a selfish way to think about it. But that’s how I feel. I don’t want Torre to get a dollar from me, I feel like he’s a sleezeball and he’s probably skimming money from his foundation anyway. I would like to pledge but I would like the money to instead go to the posada foundation. Anyway RAB can set that up?
        
        http://twitter.com/tsjc68 tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside
        
        I didn’t really take offense to it, I do think it’s a selfish way to think about it.
        
        Good. Now that you’ve admitted it’s selfish, the next thing to do is to stop doing it.
        
        But that’s how I feel.
        
        This is like me saying that “Sure, it’s probably wrong for me to beat my wife, but sometimes I just feel like beating her. That’s how I feel.”
        
        If you recognize and admit that your feelings/actions are irrational, that does not then make those feelings/actions permissible simply because you’re willing to acknowledge their irrationality. This is not a brownie points contest.
        
        I don’t want Torre to get a dollar from me,
        
        He’s not getting any dollars from you. The charity that bears his name is getting dollars from you.
        
        I feel like he’s a sleezeball
        
        –but you already admitted that you feeling like he’s a sleezeball is irrelevant and not germane to this conversation whatsoever, so, even if he is, stop pointing it out because it doesn’t matter–
        
        and he’s probably skimming money from his foundation anyway.
        
        There is nothing, I repeat, absolutely not a single miniscule microscopic shred of a hair of a shadow of a piece of evidence to back up that accusation, and you saying it makes you a much, much, much bigger “sleezeball” than Joe Torre, who did nothing but write a crappy book and bitch about how people don’t like him. For shame.
        
        I would like to pledge but I would like the money to instead go to the posada foundation
        
        Nothing is stopping you from doing both. Why not just stop being petty and donate to both? You’ll feel better, we’ll feel better, and both charities which are utterly awesome and do amazingly great things will feel better.
        
        Anyway RAB can set that up?
        
        Just to placate your silly quibble about this non-issue? No, probably not.
- Count Zero
  
  Need of kids affected by domestic violence > your personal feelings about Torre.
  
  Not even close in fact.
  - Yankeegirl49
    
    Well put..Im not giving my money to Torre. Im giving my money to the kids that need the help.
    - Mike Pop
      
      Yea, well the problem is. We all know Mike, Joe, and Ben really use this money for.
      - http://twitter.com/tsjc68 tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside
        
        R.A.H.
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Benjamin Kabak
  
  So you’re going to not donate to a charity that combats domestic violence because you don’t like Joe Torre for his book? That’s so selfish and illogical.
Count Zero

Just want to say one thing about this — skip my post if you don’t care.

About a year ago my parents got a new TV and were just going to throw away the old one (which was a relic from like 1989). A neighbor who volunteers at a shelter for battered women told them she would take it as they had a family who could use it.

We went and delivered this crappy old TV to a woman living in the shelter with her son and daughter who were about three and four years old. Those kids were jumping up and down with joy. “We got TV! We got TV!” Their mother had a big smile on her face, and I did my best to imitate it, but really what I wanted to do was cry.

Lots of times people comment on domestic violence and say, “Why doesn’t that woman just pack up and leave?” It ain’t that easy to move your kids into a shelter and try to raise them when you can’t even afford to provide them with a crappy 20 year old TV. I know Safe at Home doesn’t really address those kinds of issues as it is education-focused — but anybody who does anything to break this endless cycle of domestic violence is good in my book.

There’s no reason any child should ever have to fear going home — home to his own house. That’s just the saddest thing in the world.
- http://twitter.com/tsjc68 tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside
  
  Wow. Great post.
  
  The transformative power of charity and human kindness should never be ridiculed. Awesome.
UNION YES.

If anyone wants to review a charity or non-profit organization’s merit, check out Charity Navigator (.org I believe). They are an independent organization that rates and critiques charities and non-profits. If you suspect that one of these organizations doesn’t use donation money efficiently or is up to some sort of shady behavior etc., see for yourself before making any judgements.

For example, you don’t want to donate to an organization that uses way too much donation money on administrative costs. You can also see how much money the executive director or president makes (which comes out of your pocket more or less).

Onward little philanthropists!
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