Jennifer Solario will get the experience of a lifetime on Sunday, when she'll play the role of "Honorary Bat Girl" for the Giants' Mother's Day game.
As we've mentioned previously, Mother's Day is a huge deal for baseball -- the league has teamed up with Susan G. Komen for the past few years to help raise money and awareness for Going to Bat Against Breast Cancer.
The Honorary Bat Girl Contest campaign is designed to honor baseball fans who have been "affected by breast cancer and demonstrated a commitment to fighting the disease."
Ms. Solario fits the bill perfectly, having been diagnosed with breast cancer a year ago and serving as the co-chair for the Sacramento Survivors Committee Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 2011.
She'll be one of 30 Honorary Bat Girls, one for each Major League team.
The level of passion that MLB and its players show each year to supporting the fight against breast cancer is tremendous, and it continues to grow. Oddly, at times there have been players who didn't want to "wear pink" (isn't that kind of asinine and insane, even in such a macho culture?) but in the year 2011, it's pretty clear that baseball is fully embracing the cause.
2009 marked the first year for the "Honorary Bat Girl" promotion, and it's become quite a big deal since then -- as previously noted, the Mets' Honorary Bat Girl appeared on the Today Show with Giants pitcher Matt Cain this past week when the team was in New York to talk about the contest.
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There's usually plenty not to love about baseball and the way they conduct business (looking in your direction, LA Dodgers), but Mother's Day is one of those special holidays around the league when we're reminded that the players on the field are kids too.
