Robert James "Rick" Monday, Jr. (born November 20, 1945 in Batesville, Arkansas) is a former Major League Baseball (MLB) center fielder and is currently a broadcast announcer. Monday is best remembered for saving the American flag from being burned in Dodger Stadium during the American Bicentennial.^[1]

Monday played 19-seasons for the Kansas City/Oakland Athletics (1966–71), Chicago Cubs (1972–76) and Los Angeles Dodgers (1977–84). He compiled a lifetime .264 batting average, 1,619 hits, 241 home runs, and 775 RBI. He was selected an All-Star in 1968 and 1978. He batted and threw left-handed.

Baseball career[edit]

High School[edit]

Monday began his baseball career starring at Santa Monica High School earning league honors.

College[edit]

Tommy Lasorda, then a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers, offered Monday, and his mother Nelda, $20,000 to sign with the Dodgers out of high school in 1963. But Arizona State University coach Bobby Winkles, who was also from Monday's native Arkansas, convinced them that he would look after Monday.^[2]

A star for head coach Winkles' Sun Devils team that included freshman and future baseball hall of fame member Reggie Jackson, Monday led the Sun Devils to the 1965 College World Series championship (over Ohio State) and earned All-America and College Player of the Year honors. For the 1965 season he hit .359 with 34 extra-base hits.^[2]

Monday was selected with the first overall selection in the inaugural Major League First-Year Player Draft in 1965 by the Kansas City Athletics.^[2]

Major leagues[edit]

Monday began his major league career in 1966 playing with the Kansas City and Oakland Athletics for six seasons. He then spent five productive seasons with the Chicago Cubs, and was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers when they with Monday's help, won the National League pennant in 1977 and 1978.

Monday's best season in the major leagues came in 1976 with the Cubs team. Batting in the leadoff position, Monday hit .272, establishing career highs in home runs (32), runs (107), RBI (77), total bases (271), slugging percentage (.507), and OPS (.853). He also finished 18th in the Most Valuable Player voting.

Perhaps the most outstanding accomplishment in his playing career was his domination over pitcher Tom Seaver, arguably the best of his generation. Monday hit 11 home runs against Seaver, more than any other player, and batted .349 (30 hits in 86 at bats).

American flag incident[edit]

Rick Monday grabbing the American flag away from two protesters.

On April 25, 1976, two protesters, William Thomas and his 11-year-old son, ran into left-center field and tried to set fire to an American flag after the start of the bottom of the 4th inning at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California.^[3] Monday, the Cubs center fielder, had been tossing a practice ball with left fielder Jose Cardenal before the incident happened. After Steve Stone of the Cubs threw a pitch that made Ted Sizemore pop out, Monday dashed over and grabbed the flag to thunderous cheers. Monday ran through the infield with the flag and while walking towards the Dodgers dugout met and handed the flag over to Dodgers pitcher Doug Rau. The ballpark police officers arrested and escorted the two intruders off the field and afterwards the father of the boy was fined, charged with trespassing, and put on probation. When Monday came to bat in the top half of the 5th inning, he got a standing ovation from the crowd and the big message board behind the left-field bleachers in the stadium flashed the message, "RICK MONDAY... YOU MADE A GREAT PLAY..." He later said, "If you're going to burn the flag, don't do it around me. I've been to too many veterans' hospitals and seen too many broken bodies of guys who tried to protect it."^[4] Monday had served a commitment with the Marine Corps Reserve as part of his ROTC obligation after leaving Arizona State.

On August 25, 2008, Monday was presented with an American flag flown over Valley Forge National Historical Park in honor of his 1976 bicentennial flag rescue.^[5] Monday still has the flag he rescued from the protesters that was presented to him on "Rick Monday Day", May 4, 1976, during a pregame ceremony at Wrigley Field by an executive of the Dodgers organization; he has been offered up to $1 million to sell it, but has declined all offers.

During a Dodger Stadium game on September 2, 2008, Monday was presented with a Peace One Earth Medallion and a medallion lapel pin by Patricia Kennedy, founder of the non-profit organization Step Up 4 Vets, for his valor and patriotic actions on April 25, 1976 at Dodger Stadium.^[6][7]

On January 11, 1977, the Cubs traded Monday to the Dodgers in a five-player deal with two players (one of whom was Bill Buckner) going to the Cubs.

1981 NLCS[edit]

When the second moment occurred in 1981, Monday was mostly a utility player. In the deciding Game 5 of the NLCS at Olympic Stadium in Montreal (played on a Monday afternoon due to an earlier rain-out), he smashed a two-out ninth-inning home run off the Expos' Steve Rogers that proved to be the difference in a 2–1 Dodgers victory. Monday's home run dashed what turned out to be the Expos' only chance at a pennant in their 36-year history in the National League representing Montreal. Even today,^[8] heartbroken Expos fans refer to the fifth game of the NLCS as "Blue Monday."^[9] Los Angeles went on to win the 1981 World Series, defeating the New York Yankees 4 games to 2.

Connection with Jay Johnstone[edit]

Monday was born on the same date as Jay Johnstone, teammate on the Dodgers' 1981 World Series champions. Both also served in the Marine Corps Reserve in the 1960s. Both are lefty hitters who started their MLB careers in 1966 and played for the Cubs, Athletics and Dodgers during the course of their baseball tenure.

Broadcasting career[edit]

Soon after his retirement as a player, Monday became a broadcaster for the Dodgers. He began in 1985 by hosting the pregame show and calling play-by-play on cable TV. From 1989-92, Monday moved further south to call San Diego Padres games alongside Jerry Coleman, replacing outgoing announcer Dave Campbell. He was also a sports anchor at KTTV for a time in the 1980s. In addition, he served as a color commentator for CBS-TV at the College World Series championship game in 1988. Monday rejoined the Dodgers in 1993, replacing Don Drysdale who died suddenly from a heart attack in his hotel room on a Dodger road trip in Montreal. From 2005 to 2008, Monday mostly handled the analyst role, with Charley Steiner handling most of the play-by-play, except during road trips outside of the National League West division, during which Steiner broadcast the games on television (because Vin Scully limits his broadcasting to all home games and road games involving either the NL West or AL West,^[10]) and Monday handled the radio play-by-play, usually with Jerry Reuss as his analyst. In 2009 Steiner (play-by-play) and Monday (analysis) began covering all games on radio, with Eric Collins doing TV play-by-play for games not covered by Scully.^[11] When Steiner replaced Collins on the road TV broadcasts in 2014, Monday switched over to the play-by-play duties alongside Nomar Garciaparra.

Although Monday is not known for signature home run calls or pet phrases, he does use Rocket's Red Glare on occasion after a player hits a home run, and when a ball goes over the head of an outfield and head towards the wall, he uses the term no man's land.

Monday's "Blue Monday" home run (which crushed the Montreal Expos' championship dream) was not forgotten in Montreal. He reported, in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in a documentary feature about the Montreal Expos, that when he was a broadcaster years after the homer, he was unexpectedly held up at Dorval Airport by Canadian immigration officer and missed his connecting flight. When he inquired about the reason, the officer asked if he was the former Dodger player, and smiled.

See also[edit]

Biography portal

• List of top 300 Major League Baseball home run hitters

References[edit]

• 1971 Baseball Register published by The Sporting News

External links[edit]

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• Baseball Library - profile and chronology
• Retrosheet