The St. Louis Cardinals are urging fans attending this weekend’s Winter Warm-Up  to donate a baseball glove in support of the “Gloves 4 Troops” effort organized by Cardinals minor league infielder Vance Albitz who hopes to collect at least a thousand baseball gloves and balls by Spring Training 2013.

“This is a great opportunity to support our troops while also helping kids in our community,” said Michael Hall, Vice-President of Community Relations and Executive Director of Cardinals Care. “We are inspired by Vance’s selfless efforts and want to do our part to help him achieve his goal.”

Cardinals Care, with the help of Rawlings, will have a number of collection bins set up as fans enter the 17th Annual Warm-Up at the Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch.  Fans are encouraged to donate gently used gloves and balls.  Cardinals Care has enlisted the support of the local chapter of Hope for Heroes of the Epsilon Sigma Alpha organization at Scott Air Force Base to assist with the delivery of the gloves to the troops deployed oversees.

“Gloves 4 Troops” (#Gloves4Troops) is a volunteer effort organized by Albitz, an infielder with the Springfield Cardinals, who has already collected over 200 gloves.  Fans can learn more at gloves4troops.com.

The highly-anticipated annual Winter Warm-Up takes place Saturday, January 19 through Monday, January 21, 2013 (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day).  The event times are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday.  Fans may still purchase passes for the three day event at cardinals.com/winterwarmup.

(Press Release Courtesy of St. Louis Cardinals)

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