Since 1953, one thing has remained constant for the Boston Red Sox baseball team—its role as champion for the Jimmy Fund. The roots of this allegiance extend back to the founding of the Jimmy Fund in 1948, when members of another Boston baseball franchise, the Boston Braves, participated in the national radio broadcast that launched the charity.
Braves owner Lou Perini kept the team involved through player appearances and radio appeals during games. The dollars they raised helped pay for the 1952 completion of the state-of-the-art Jimmy Fund Building for research and patient care. When the Braves moved to Milwaukee, Perini left the Jimmy Fund in the capable hands of the Boston Red Sox—a strong relationship that has continued ever since.
Today, the Red Sox Foundation’s focus in the health arena remains the ball club’s long-standing support of the Jimmy Fund. The Red Sox and the Jimmy Fund team up to raise millions for lifesaving research and care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in a wide variety of ways including the WEEI/ NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon, the Red Sox Jimmy Fund specialty license plate, and the Red Sox Foundation’s sponsorship of the Pan-Mass Challenge, which solely supports the Jimmy Fund. Go, Sox!