Fox Sports has traditionally been a strong supporter of the United States Military. Their annual presentation of “This One’s For You”, a special broadcast that is sent around the world to military bases both in and out of combat zones, has become a staple of the Major League Baseball season. They continued that support during the first week of February this year when they sent a group of Fox Sports Girls, current and former Major League Baseball players and Hall Of Famers Rollie Fingers and Wade Boggs to U.S. Army Garrison Grafenwoehr in Germany.
The following photos were provided by Fox Sports. Use the navigation arrows below the photos to thumb through the 31 images.
Rollie Fingers Meets The Troops
The event was called “Spring Training To The Troops” and the group converged on the Army base to help brighten the day and lives of military members and their families that are stationed overseas. During their visit, the contingent of baseball representatives spent time at the Wounded Warrior Center and schools that were on base, in morning work out sessions and meals with the troops and conducting a youth baseball clinic for children of the troops. The highlight of the trip was the participation in a Wiffle Ball game between the 172nd infantry brigade and the Military Police. The Fox Sports Girls, who each represented a different territory of Fox Sports coverage, and the current and former major league players each played as well, joining the different teams at various times during the game.
My grandfather was a World War II vet, he was stationed in Korea at the end of World War II. I used to play with his army equipment when I was little, he still had his army canteens and helmets and everything in the basement. To go over there, I mean obviously things have changed since World War II but troops are still making the same sacrifices as they were way back then. But family is important to me and to go over there and see the sacrifices that these men and women are making every day, it really touches you. – Fox Sports Girl Kayla in an interview with i70baseball
Kayla, the Fox Sports Girl representing Fox Sports Midwest, was given some hats and jerseys by the Cardinals to take over to St. Louis military members. She was able to connect with multiple soldiers from the St. Louis area, providing them with the new alternate jerseys the team will wear on Saturday day games at home. She was even able to find a soldier that shared her alma mater with her and took a photo with him in his Mizzou hooded sweatshirt.
When asked about training with the troops, Kayla told i70baseball, “We were amazed. We did this for two days while we were over there and I was like ‘I can’t believe you guys get up and do this every morning’. We were in the hotel lobby at 5:30 in the morning to get on the bus to go outside in the snow. By 6 a.m. they are on the ground doing situps, pushups, they just kind of do this circuit training. We asked them if they were taking it easy on us and they said ‘yea, we are doing kind of a condensed version of our training’. The second day we were out there running with logs on our shoulders, pushing 800 pound tires, running with gallons of water and after that we went and ran two miles with them in cadence. That was probably my favorite part. I’m not a big runner, but to be in those lines with them and doing the chanting, it didn’t even feel like we ran two miles. They go through so much and I have the utmost respect with them for that.”
Fox Sports put together an amazing 90 second video about the trip, which you can see here:
Make sure to follow Kayla and the rest of the Fox Sports Midwest Girls on Twitter - @FSMidwest_Girls
Bill Ivie is the editor here at i70baseball.
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