Artist Dale Chihuly Creates New Hutch Award (See Sidebar)
SEATTLE, Dec. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Second baseman Mark Loretta will
receive the 2006 Hutch Award, which is given annually to a Major League
Baseball player who best exemplifies the fighting spirit and competitive
desire of baseball great Fred Hutchinson.
Loretta, who has built a reputation as an intelligent player and highly
skilled hitter and defender, spent this year's season with the Boston Red
Sox. He bounced back to a successful baseball career after being treated
for malignant melanoma and has since become an advocate for skin-cancer
prevention.
"I'm very honored and humbled to be receiving the Hutch Award," Loretta
said. "Though I feel some common links with the late Fred Hutchinson, I
don't consider myself extraordinarily courageous. Many players have a
strong sense of competitiveness and toughness. But I'm fortunate to have a
rewarding career in baseball -- and to have had my cancer detected early
and dealt with quickly."
In a 12-season career, Loretta has posted a .299 average with 68 home
runs and 525 RBIs in 1,385 games. This year, he was selected as the
starting second baseman for the American League in Major League Baseball's
All-Star Game, making him the first Red Sox All-Star starter at second base
since 1965. In addition, the honor marked Loretta's second time as an
All-Star: he'd been named to the National League squad in 2004 while with
the San Diego Padres.
Loretta debuted with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1995 after having been
chosen in the seventh round of the 1993 amateur draft. He also played for
the Houston Astros and enjoyed his most productive season with the Padres
in 2004, batting .335 with 47 doubles, 16 home runs, 76 RBIs, 108 runs
scored and 208 hits.
"Mark Loretta possesses the perfect combination of courage and
dedication, both on and off the field, in the spirit of Fred Hutchinson,"
said Myles Kahn, chair of the Hutch Award Luncheon committee. "We admire
Mark's professionalism and the inspiring way he's responded to his
experience with cancer, and we are thrilled to honor him this year."
Along with Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Tony Clark, Loretta is
one of two chief player representatives for the Major League Baseball
Players Association. He also serves as one of three Major League Baseball
representatives for Players Trust, a foundation through which players
contribute their time, money and celebrity to call attention to important
community issues and encourage others to get involved. Nonprofit
beneficiaries of the Players Trust include Buses for Baseball, Inspiration
Fields, Medicines for Humanity, the Players Choice Awards and Volunteers of
America. Loretta and his wife, Hilary, live in Southern California where
they have two children and volunteer with the ALS Association and
Children's Hospital San Diego.
Loretta will visit Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and receive
the award at the annual Hutch Award Luncheon on Thursday, Jan. 25 at Safeco
Field in Seattle. Ken Griffey Sr. will keynote the luncheon. The Hutchinson
Center was founded by Fred's brother Bill, a prominent Seattle surgeon,
after Fred died of cancer at age 45. The Hutch Award was established in
1965 and was first given to Mickey Mantle.
Funds raised through the Hutch Award Luncheon go to the Hutchinson
Center's Gregory Fund for early cancer-detection research. The Gregory Fund
was established in 2003 as a collaboration of the Hutchinson Center and The
Moyer Foundation, founded by Seattle Mariners pitcher Jamie Moyer and his
wife, Karen.
Past Hutch Award winners include Moyer, 2005 recipient Craig Biggio,
Sandy Koufax and Carl Yastremski. In all, 11 Hall-of-Famers have received
the Hutch Award. For more information about the Hutch Award visit
http://www.fhcrc.org/hutchaward .
Editor's note: Photos of Loretta are available upon request.
Sidebar
Artist Dale Chihuly Creates a New Hutch Award
Design Pays Tribute to Baseball Great Fred Hutchinson
SEATTLE - Renowned artist Dale Chihuly has created a new blown-glass
Hutch Award in honor of the late baseball legend Fred Hutchinson and the
cancer- research center that bears his name. The glass piece, formally
entitled "Cerulean Venetian with Sun Yellow Coils," was blown last month at
Chihuly's boathouse studio on Seattle's Lake Union.
The 2006 Hutch Award recipient, Mark Loretta, will be the first awardee
to receive the Chihuly-designed piece when he visits Seattle in January.
Larger examples of the piece will be displayed at Fred Hutchinson Cancer
Research Center and at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in
Cooperstown, N.Y.
Chihuly's glass design is the third incarnation of the Hutch Award,
which was instituted 42 years ago with the naming of Mickey Mantle as the
first recipient. The first incarnation of the award was a simple plaque;
the second was a crystal baseball.
Editor's Note: photos and video of the creation of the glass-art Hutch
Award are available upon request.
At Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, our interdisciplinary teams
of world-renowned scientists and humanitarians work together to prevent,
diagnose and treat cancer, HIV/AIDS and other diseases. Our researchers,
including three Nobel laureates, bring a relentless pursuit and passion for
health, knowledge and hope to their work and to the world. For more
information, please visit http://www.fhcrc.org .
CONTACT
Christi Ball Loso
(206) 667-5215
closo@fhcrc.org
SOURCE Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
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Related links:
http://www.fhcrc.org
CONTACT:
Christi Ball Loso of Fred Hutchinson Cancer
Research Center, +1-206-667-5215, or closo@fhcrc.org
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