All Things Bubba

Ricky Stone, April 10, 2008, Scranton, PA
Ricky Stone is a journeyman relief pitcher, most recently with the Reds. He was drafted by the Dodgers, but it was several years before Bubba, so I don't think they ever played together in the Dodgers system. They were teammates in 2007, with the Louisville Bats. Stone was also a teammate of Andy Phillips earlier this year in Louisville.

Ricky Stone was diagnosed with brain cancer last August. Affiliated baseball has a good health insurance plan, but unfortunately, Ricky was playing in Taiwan at the time, and so had no US insurance. His wife was to start a job that included health insurance the Monday after he got sick. (Man, our healthcare system stinks.)

The "baseball family" has banded together to raise money for Ricky's treatment. They've started a blog, called Rally For Recovery. Players from all over the league have donated items, and they will be auctioned on eBay starting tonight. It sounds like the Yankees came through:

Two large boxes from the New York Yankees arrived at the Chandler, Arizona, home of Alisa and Nelson Figueroa on Tuesday, September 23, 2008. They were filled with autographed Yankees jerseys, baseball caps, and baseballs, their donation to Rally for Recovery, an online auction being held to benefit 33-year-old former National League relief pitcher Ricky Stone who was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in August.

They were signed at Yankee Stadium on Sunday, September 21st, the day the Yankees played their last game at the House That Ruth Built. The jersey Derek Jeter signed was one of the jerseys he wore that last day. Included were signed jerseys of A-Rod and Mariano and a number of signed caps including one signed by Yogi Berra who was at the Stadium that day to say goodbye.

Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, David Ortiz, Ichiro, David Wright, Johan Santana, Ken Griffey, Jr., Jim Thome, Ryne Sandberg, Jeff Kent, Jose Reyes, Miguel Tejada, Carlos Quentin, Mark Belhorn, John Smoltz, Brad Ausmus, Joe Nathan, Adrian Beltre, and Roy Oswalt are among over 100 baseball players donating to an online memorabilia auction to be held this week to benefit 33-year-old Ricky Stone, relief pitcher for Astros (2001-2004), Padres (2004), and Reds (2005, 2007), who was stricken with a malignant brain tumor in August 2008.

Items are supposed to start going up at 6pm PT (9pm ET). Bid early, bid often. You can also donate without bidding.

UPDATE: The auction is underway. Four pages of items, with more appearing every few minutes. There's a ton of Yankees stuff.