MLB pink bats — why a special Mother's Day tradition works so well

TL;DR

MLB players will use pink bats and wear pink gear on Mother's Day to raise breast cancer awareness. This tradition has been part of the league since 2006.

Key points

MLB players use pink bats on Mother's Day
Tradition started in 2006
Raises breast cancer awareness

MLB pink bats — why a special Mother's Day tradition works so well originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

One of the coolest traditions in sports returns on Sunday, May 10 -- Mother's Day.

MLB players around the league will use pink bats, as well as many wearing pink batting gloves, cleats, wrist bands and more. It's a way the league has raised breast cancer awareness since the inception of the pink theme on major league diamonds in 2006.

It's one of those things that it feels like baseball gets very right.

The pink provides such a contrast of the day-to-day monotony of a baseball season. Even to the most diehard of fans, it's a sport that is defined more by the way it ticks like a metronome and is always present. The days can blur -- was that a Tuesday night game or a Wednesday night game?

But on Mother's Day across MLB, that monotony is replaced by a splash of color.

The pink is eye-catching just by virtue of it being a bright hue, and then the places it shows up on the diamond are simply different.

Bats are always black or brown or tan or maybe a bit of a dark red. They don't have the brightness of pink, except on this day.

So in some ways, they stick out like a sore thumb.

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And then how cool is it when one of those pink bats launches a baseball a country mile? There's just something extra special about it.

The rest of the pink, too, is quite fun. Players have gotten more colorful with their shin guards and sleeves and all the rest of the accessories in recent years, but there's something cool about even the more subdued personalities breaking out some pink gear on this day.

Baseball's beauty is often found in the fact that it's there, day in and day out. That just enhances the difference on this day.

Your favorite ballplayer is wearing pink and swinging pink, and that's special.