October 19, 2017
St. Cloud, MN – During the 2017 season the St. Cloud Rox teamed up with fans and corporate partners by putting a strong emphasis on giving back to Central Minnesota organizations as more than $25,000 were raised for area non-profit organizations. Since the Rox inaugural season in 2012 over $125,000 has been raised through a variety of events including silent auctions, ticket fundraisers, and in-game promotions which helped support nearly 180 Central Minnesota organizations in need.
On July 16th, the Rox partnered with Center for Diagnostic Imaging for “Pink in the Park Day” where the team wore special edition pink jerseys. A silent auction for the jerseys raised $3,050 for American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer. In partnership with Sentry Bank, the Rox held a Community All-Stars Night on July 27th where there honored 11 area youth in the community who became Rox for the day. The Rox all wore red #11 jerseys in honor of Jacob Wetterling and raised $1,000 for the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center through an in game auction. On July 30th, the Rox also teamed up Rapid Recovery & Aquatic Center for Military Appreciation Day where special edition camouflage jerseys were worn and several were auctioned off. The auction raised over $1,000 for the Country Manor Foundation, helping local veterans. The Rox also teamed up with local youth sports organizations and other non-profits where over $3,100 was donated back to their organization from ticket sales.
In 2017, the Rox held their 6th annual Bark in the Park Night presented by the Granite City Pet Hospital where over $400 were raised by collecting donations from fans that brought their dog to the park. Proceeds went to help support the Tri-County Human Society. On August 5th, the Rox again partnered with Country Financial for a Battle of the Badges pre-game softball event to help recognize local law enforcement, EMT’s and firefighters.
The Rox developed a pair of unique in-game promotions that helped raise funds for two non-profit organizations. The Rox partnered with Capital One to raise $3,260 for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Minnesota through the “K’s for Kids” promotion where $10 was donated for every strikeout (K) that the Rox pitchers had during home games. The Rox also partnered with St. Cloud Stamp and Sign to raise $930 for Mended Hearts through the “Heart of the Order” promotion.
In addition to raising funds for local charities the Rox staff, coaches and players spent time visiting many local senior living communities, libraries, summer camps getting to know fans of all ages in the St. Cloud area. Making over 60 community appearances during the year, staff, coaches and players totaled over 1,000 combined volunteer hours; the Rox shared experiences with fans, read books to children and even offered baseball instruction at several baseball and softball clinics.
During the spring of 2017, the Rox again partnered with Central Minnesota Credit Union for the Rox Reading Program. The program encouraged over 11,000 students in over 480 classrooms throughout Central Minnesota to read outside of the classroom.
The Rox will open their 7th season of Northwoods League baseball in late May of 2018. Season Tickets and Partial Season Ticket Packages for the 2018 season are currently on sale. For more information regarding this release please contact the Rox front office at (320) 240-9798 or visit www.stcloudrox.com
The St. Cloud Rox are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The 24-year-old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, over 185 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including two- time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champion Ben Zobrist (CHC) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM) and Lucas Duda (NYM). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.stcloudrox.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Rox as your favorite team.