Seattle Mariners auctioning player-worn and signed T-shirts to raise money for gun safety
The Seattle Mariners are auctioning off signed batting practice T-shirts from now through June 24 to raise funds for gun violence awareness. The Mariners Care Foundation will match all funds raised from the auction and donate the money to the Washington Office of Firearm Safety and Violence Prevention.
The Mariners wore orange T-shirts ahead of their 4-3 win over the Texas Rangers on June 3 that read #WearOrange across the chest. Players wore the shirts to honor those who have been impacted or lost as a result of gun violence.
The decision to wear the shirts came just over a week after the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that saw 19 students and two teachers killed.
The Gun Violence Archive, an online archive that keeps track of gun violence in America, maintains multiple daily updating maps of gun crime in the U.S. in 2022 and an updating list of mass shootings throughout the country.
The team is auctioning off 22 signed T-shirts, with bidding starting at $100.
Bidding opened on Wednesday afternoon, and as of Thursday morning, outfielder Julio Rodriguez’s shirt had the highest bid at $165, while third baseman Eugenio Suarez’s shirt was just behind at $145.
The Mariners weren’t the only team to make a statement with orange shirts.
The Seattle Sounders wore similar shirts ahead of their 2-1 victory over Charlotte FC on May 29 and raised over $4,000 in an auction for the Alliance for Gun Responsibility Foundation. Goalkeeper Stefan Frei’s shirt topped the Sounders’ charts, auctioning for $375.
The Seattle Storm of the Women’s National Basketball Association and Seattle-based OL Reign of the Women’s National Soccer League also wore orange shirts ahead of games in early June. Both teams encouraged fans to donate money toward gun safety programs such as Everytown for Gun Safety.
