• by Danielle Oster , October 28, 2024

The Los Angeles Dodgers made history when first baseman Freddie Freeman ended game one of the World Series with the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history. In addition to giving the hometown Dodgers the win in the series’ opening game, the history-making blast also resulted in $25,000 in hurricane recovery relief, thanks to T-Mobile’s “Rallying For Hurricane Relief” campaign.

The mobile provider launched the campaign earlier that day, promising to donate $25,000 for every home run hit during the fall classic, as well as $10 every time someone texts “RALLY” to the dedicated 90999 line during the campaign -- up to $1 million -- to support disaster relief for communities impacted by hurricanes and tropical storms in 2024. T-Mobile's partners are the American Red Cross and Major League Baseball. 

"Since Hurricanes Helene and Milton made landfall, T-Mobile’s Emergency Response teams have been on the ground helping restore connectivity and assist impacted communities,” T-Mobile president of marketing, strategy and products Mike Katz said in a statement. “We’re using one of baseball’s biggest stages to bring attention to these impacted areas and make a difference for the communities that need it most.”

To promote the brand’s disaster relief pledge, T-Mobile  also teamed up with veteran pop musician Sheryl Crow, who recorded “Light A Candle” -- a new song written by Luke Dick and Ronan O’Mahony -- for the campaign, with Crow’s proceeds from the track being donated directly to American Red Cross.

The song also provides the soundtrack for the campaign’s hero ad, “Rallying For Hurricane Relief with MLB,” which made its debut during game one of the World Series. With Crow’s contribution playing in the background, the ad celebrates the resilience of communities recovering from the recent disasters, highlighting T-Mobile’s history of responding to such crises.

T-Mobile has a history of connecting its campaigns around the fall classic to hurricane recovery efforts. It first launched a “Home Runs for Hurricane Recovery” program back in 2017, and claims to have contributed some $7.5 million to organizations supporting hurricane and natural disaster relief and recovery efforts since then.

As for the longball-based World Series disaster relief effort, there’s good news and there’s bad news. The good news is that the series has already resulted in half a dozen home runs (four from the Dodgers, including a pair from Freeman alone, and two from the New York Yankees), amounting to a pledge of $150,000 from T-Mobile. The bad news is, with the Dodgers up two games to none, the series has the potential to be a short one.