Memorabilia
AMERICAN HERO: Former MLB star Rick Monday recalls saving American flag in famous 1976 incident
Former major leaguer Rick Monday had only one save in his 19-year big league career (1966–1984). But what a save it was—memorable enough for a coveted place in baseball history and recognition from the White House to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Monday was an outfielder, so how he recorded a save is quite a tale. And there’s a treasured piece of memorabilia that goes along with the story, which is now front and center in Cooperstown during the nation’s 250th birthday celebration.
The historic event unfolded on April 25, 1976 on what seemed like an ordinary Sunday afternoon at Dodger Stadium, ironically, during the nation’s Bicentennial year.
Monday was playing center field for the Cubs in the bottom of the fourth inning when he heard something off to his right. He looked toward left-center field and “I saw two guys jump the fence,” he recalls. At first, Monday wasn’t sure what the pair were up to.
“I was angry when I saw them because they interrupted the game and came into my office—the field of play,” he said.
Monday realized that one of the men was carrying something under his arm. He looked more closely and could see that it was an American flag. Suddenly, the man proceeded to unfurl the flag and lay it flat on the field.
“Then I saw the guy pull out something really shiny and start dousing the flag,” Monday recalls.
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The Cubs outfielder said the men had their backs to him but he could clearly see what was going on as he dashed toward them.
“I could smell lighter fluid,” the now-80-year-old Monday points out. “As I came close, I could see a match being lit, but the wind blew it out. Till this day I know I was first thinking about bowling them over. But then I thought if they didn’t have the flag they couldn’t burn it.”
Monday raced toward them and grabbed the flag before it was ignited and ran toward third base, carrying the flag to safety. As he did, one of the two men threw the can of lighter fluid at him, but missed.
Dodgers third base coach Tommy Lasorda yelled expletives at the two intruders as Dodger Stadium security swiftly ran onto the field to apprehend the two men.
“I could feel the moisture of the lighter fluid on the flag as soon as I grabbed it,” Monday recalls. “I looked at the flag for a moment to make sure it wasn’t on fire.”
Monday then handed the flag to Dodgers pitcher Doug Rau on the third-base side of the field. As he delivered the flag to safety and started to return to center field, the stunned stadium crowd—gripped by the drama they were watching—instinctively started to sing a poignant rendition of “God Bless America.”
And when Monday came up to bat in the top of the fifth inning, the Dodgers scoreboard flashed a sign: “Rick Monday … You Made a Great Play.”
That flag rescue has been celebrated over the past five decades, but never with more fanfare than it’s getting now with the actual flag on exhibit at the Baseball Hall of Fame. Torn and a bit tattered, the flag sits proudly in a glass case at the Hall with a video of Monday talking about the incident. Monday loaned the flag to Cooperstown for display during the nation’s 250th birthday.
At the end of the game, Monday asked the Dodgers for the flag once legal proceedings involving the pair of intruders were completed. Dodgers management agreed and Peter O’Malley, the Dodgers owner at the time, called Monday’s sprint to save the flag “one of the great moments in Dodger history.”
Besides being a high-profile baseball player, Monday served six years in the US Marine Corps Reserves (1966–1971). He fulfilled his commitment to the Reserves while playing mostly in the major leagues with the Oakland A’s.
“If you’re going to burn the American flag, don’t do it around me,” Monday said. “I’ve been to too many veterans’ hospitals and seen too many broken bodies of guys who tried to protect it.”
Though Monday had an outstanding career—including eventually playing for the Dodgers for eight seasons (1977–1984) and hitting the winning home run in Game 5 of the 1981 NLCS—the flag rescue overshadows it all.
“The flag is what graces the coffins of those who gave their lives for this nation to protect the rights and freedoms we all have,” Monday said. “The flag is what is given to the surviving widows and loved ones of those who died for the nation. It’s given with the words on behalf of a grateful nation. I wasn’t about to see it desecrated.”
Famed Dodgers radio announcer Vin Scully made a famous call of the incident: “I’m not sure what he’s doing out there. It looks like he’s gonna burn a flag . . . and Rick Monday runs and takes it away from him! I think the guy was going to set fire to an American flag. … Can you imagine that? Monday, when he realized what he was gonna do, raced over and took the flag away from him.”
Scully, the longtime Dodgers broadcaster, listed that call as one of his top ten calls of all time. Monday says the call still sends chills up and down his spine.
A famous photo, taken by Los Angeles Times photographer James Roark, shows Monday reaching down and snatching the flag from the pair of intruders. The still photo was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. LA Times columnist Jim Murray said the photo “was the most famous picture of its kind since the flag raising at Iwo Jima.”
For many years, everyone thought the only visual record of the incident was the famous Roark photo. But then a chance meeting in 1984 revealed a video of the incident.
Monday, who has been a Dodgers announcer for more than 34 years, said that back in 1976, TV stations didn’t give coverage to people who ran onto the field. So, when the camera crews saw the intruders, they turned the cameras away from the two men and none of the TV crews captured Monday’s heroic act on film.
But after Monday retired in 1984, he met a man who worked for a local TV studio who had seen video of the incident. The video was shot with a new camera by someone who worked at a local film studio.
“No one knew any video of the incident existed before that day I bumped into that fellow,” Monday said. The video is now featured at the Hall of Fame.
During the now-famous game, Monday got three hits and an RBI, though the Cubs lost 5–4 in 10 innings. When he came into the Cubs’ clubhouse following the game, he was greeted by a mob of reporters and had a special phone call waiting for him. The call was from President Gerald R. Ford, who thanked Monday for his daring act and show of patriotism. Monday was invited to the White House and received a Presidential Commendation for “Service to Others.”
When the Dodgers gave Monday the flag a few months later, he began taking it on a historic journey. In the offseason, he toured the country with the flag to raise money for veterans and their families, a mission that he still embraces.
Thinking back on the events of that momentous day, Monday says, “I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t have done the same thing.”
The Dodgers had an unusual fan giveaway on Aug. 27, 2013, when the Cubs played the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Fans were given a bobblehead of Monday in his Cubs uniform running with the flag he saved.
Monday, who grew up in southern California, was the first overall pick in the inaugural MLB Draft in 1965 by the Kansas City Athletics. He played for the Cubs until the end of the 1976 season, when he was traded to the Dodgers, where he finished his career in 1984.
A two-time All-Star (1968, 1978) and World Series champion with the Dodgers (1981), Monday is still in demand on the speakers’ circuit, and often brings the American flag he saved with him.
“What really has special meaning to me is that the flag they were trying to desecrate that day, still has a life,” he said.
