Rick Monday will be honored at the National Baseball Hall of Fame this summer during induction weekend, a tribute tied to the 50th anniversary of the day he stopped an American flag from being burned on the field at Dodger Stadium. The flag Monday rescued on April 25, 1976, will also go on display at the Hall of Fame from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend.
The Hall of Fame will recognize Monday on July 25 at its Awards Presentation at the Alice Busch Opera Theater at the Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown. The honor lands more than four decades after he became the very first pick in the first-ever MLB Draft in 1965 and went on to play 19 major league seasons, including eight with the Dodgers, two All-Star selections, three World Series appearances with Los Angeles and a championship in 1981.
Monday’s place in Dodgers history has only grown because his playing career was followed by a long broadcast run. He has been broadcasting for over four decades and is now in his 34th consecutive season calling Dodgers games, keeping him connected to the same franchise that drafted him and later made his flag-saving act part of its identity.
That is what gives this summer’s recognition its force. The Hall of Fame is not only marking a famous baseball moment; it is treating Monday’s act as part of the sport’s permanent memory, with the original flag displayed and the ceremony arriving in the same season that recalls what happened on that April day in 1976.
Joe Buck, Paul Hoynes and Bill White will also be honored at the July 25 presentation, but Monday’s recognition carries a different kind of weight. Few players are remembered for one split-second decision so long after the rest of their career has already been measured, and in his case the moment is now being placed on the sport’s biggest historical stage.