Former MLB pitcher Rick Greene’s 2 Seam Dream Foundation will make a starstudded splash on Sept. 10 at Marlins Park with its inaugural South Florida event.
“Throwing Cancer a Curve” will attract many professional athletes and celebrities, including Mike Lowell, Vinnie Chulk, Gus Gandarillas, Eli Marrero, Ricky Bones, Luis Alicea, Eddie Perez and many more. All money raised by the event — including drinks, hors d’oeuvres, a silent auction and a stadium tour — will be donated to the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami and the Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood.
“It’s basically a cocktail social that gives people who buy tickets a behind-the-scenes look at the stadium and the opportunity to rub elbows with some former Big League guys,” said Greene. “It’s going to be very relaxed, with TVs in the Diamond Club showing Marlins highlights and also some pictures of what the
2 Seam Dream Foundation and each hospital does. I just think it’s a good way for everybody to kind of come together and help strike out cancer by throwing it a curve.”
Although tickets to the event can be obtained by $100 per person donations, larger sponsorship opportunities exist. A $5,000 donation will grant one “Title Sponsor” top billing on all marketing and advertising materials, a logo on a step and 10 tickets to the event. “Home Run Sponsors” will have their logos displayed on all marketing and advertising materials and receive four tickets in exchange for $2,000 donations. For $500, “Pinch Hitter Sponsors” will receive an acknowledgement at the event and on postevent marketing material and two tickets.
“We’re looking for one major sponsor to take over, be our ‘Title Sponsor’ for the event and get that recognition and acknowledgement, but we’ll take as many ‘Title Sponsors’ as we can,” he said.
Greene, a former MLB relief pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds, graduated from Coral Gables High School in 1989. He helped lead Louisiana State University to victory in the 1991 College World Series and competed in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. He founded the 2 Seam Dream Foundation, a public charity, in 2012 to help with cancer awareness and treatments after his father and stepfather were both diagnosed with cancer in the summer of 2011. The Baton Rouge headquartered organization holds four events annually, usually one per quarter. This will be the second major event the organization is putting on this year.
“My goal a few years ago was to take 2 Seam Dream to a national level and this is a big step in accomplishing that,” he said. “We’re hoping this will become an annual event where we are able to get more people involved and raise more money every year we do it. Cancer affects a lot of people. If you don’t have some kind of cancer, then you know somebody who does.”
For more information, go to www.2SeamDream.org or call Greene at 225-603-8217 or Bekki Haggard 305-519- 3539.
