An MLB pitcher has launched a charity campaign that is filled with sex and marijuana references
- Cleveland Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer will donate close to $100,000 to different charities this year after winning more than he initially fought for in arbitration.
- During his "69 Days of Giving," Bauer will donate $420.69 to a different charity for 68 straight days, starting on Opening Day, and finish off the event with a final donation of $69,420.69.
- All told, Bauer will commit $104,030.31 of his $6,525,000 salary to the project, leaving him to take home $6,420,969.69 for his work with the Indians this season.
Trevor Bauer just won one of the most interesting arbitration cases in the history of baseball.
According to Jeff Passan at Yahoo Sports, after first proposing a deal worth $6.9 million, Bauer was warned he was asking for too high a price. Taking this into account, Bauer pitched a new salary that would see him make exactly $6,420,969.69 for the 2018 season.
"I just think it's a good number," Bauer said of his proposal. "I think it accurately reflects my place in the salary structure relative to other athletes."
Bauer was later talked into removing the references to marijuana and sex from his proposal and won a salary of $6,525,000. But Bauer's desire to making his references subsisted, and eventually, he came up with an idea to make them a reality: "The 69 Days of Giving."
Bauer explains the premise of the campaign with a video on his website. Starting on Thursday, Bauer will be donating $420.69 to a different charity every day for 68 straight days, taking suggestions from the public as to where to give. On the 69th day, he'll cap off the campaign by make one final donation of $69,420.69 to a charity of his choosing.
Add in another $6,002.70 for Taiki Green, the campaign manager of the charitable endeavor, and Bauer will be left with his desired 2018 salary of $6,420,969.69.
The move is likely the most obvious troll move since "nice" became a meme, but it's easy to forgive Bauer given that he's using the effort to do good. The donations are sincere, regardless of the fact that they are to be distributed in amounts engineered to garner internet attention.
"I'm just trying to give to charity, man," Bauer said. "I'm fortunate enough to be in a position where I have the ability to do that. I have the means to do that. I'm in a good spot. And I can use my platform to spread stuff that I'm passionate about."
Response to the project thus far has been, in a word, nice.
In all likelihood, his giving will give more publicity to the charities he decides to highlight than any regular donation made by a professional athlete, just for the amount of "nice" replies they'll generate online.
You can find out more about Bauer's 69 Days of Giving here.