Arizona Diamondbacks mark Memorial Day with name wall, special uniforms
May 27, 2013, 6:27 PM
PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks made a special effort to honor those who served on Memorial Day.
From special shirts to a memory expert, the D-backs took advantage of their doubleheader with the Texas Rangers to make Monday a special day at the ballpark.
Ron White, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, is a two-time U.S. memory champion and knows the names of every American killed in that conflict.
“I’ve memorized all 2,200 of them in the order of their deaths,” he said. “Memorized their ranks, their first name and their last name. It’s about 7,000 words.”
The D-backs hired White to write out the names of each soldier on a massive wall at Chase Field.
“We’re going to get a 50-foot wall. It’s black and looks like the Vietnam Wall,” he said. “About an hour before game one, I’m going to start writing out the names from memory. It will take me about 10 hours to write all 7,000 words.”
In addition to White’s tribute, the D-backs wore camouflage jerseys and hats with all proceeds from the sales of the merchandise going to the Welcome Home Veterans program.
The D-backs bullpen also wore special shirts to mark the day.
Bullpen workout shirts today… @dbacks #ProudToBeAnAmerican twitter.com/BradZiegler/st…
— Brad Ziegler (@BradZiegler) May 27, 2013
