WASHINGTON聽鈥� On the same night Major League Baseball handed out their final season awards, another award聽was being announced at the U.S. Navy Memorial in downtown DC.
MLB Hall-of-Famer Tom Seaver, Darren O鈥橠ay聽of the Baltimore Orioles, and Chief Petty Officer Edmundo Brantes of the United States Navy formally received the聽Bob Feller Act of Valor Award on Thursday evening.聽USMC Staff Sgt. Adam聽Plambeck聽was聽named the recipient of the Jerry Coleman Award, which honors a Marine Noncommissioned Officer, and this year鈥檚 recipients of the Peer-to-Peer Mentoring Awards in the Afloat and Ashore categories were Training Support Center Great Lakes, Unmanned Patrol Squadron ONE NINE (VUP-19).
This was聽also聽a ceremony that featured the first ever 鈥淢ilitary Children Award鈥� for two children whose parents serve proudly in the U.S. Military.聽This year’s winners are Nicholas and Shivanne Annand, son and daughter of Naresh and Henrietta Annand聽of Chesapeake, Virginia.
Seaver, who pitched for four teams over a 20-year career, was not able to attend.聽Former Secretary of聽the聽Navy John Dalton accepted the honor on Seaver鈥檚 behalf.
“Terrific Tom” finished his career with聽311 wins, 3,640 strikeouts, and at the time of his induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992, he had the highest percentage of votes ever recorded, 98.84 percent, since passed by Ken Griffey Jr., last year with 99.32 percent.
O鈥橠ay, who just finished his sixth season as a聽reliever for the Orioles, is a right-handed setup man聽who throws a聽鈥渟ubmarine sidearm鈥澛燿elivery. The聽one-time All Star is married to Fox 海角社区app Channel’s聽Elizabeth Prann, who is based out of the聽Washington, D.C.聽bureau. O’Day was pursued聽by the聽Washington Nationals聽after the 2015 season, but聽chose to sign a four-year deal to聽remain聽in Baltimore.
O鈥橠ay credits his wife with getting him more involved in assisting the military, saying 鈥渂ehind every OK man there’s a great woman.” She aided聽Darren’s efforts by helping聽to organize a barbecue聽for members of the military and their family for the Metropolitan USO before select Orioles games.
Prann, who’s expecting the couples’ first son next month, said that Darren deserves 99.9 percent of the credit for the Act of Valor Award, and that the service to the military is something they both are involved in that goes back to when both were in college. She added the military has helped them both achieve their dreams in life.
Even Orioles manager Buck Showalter stopped by the event in support of O’Day’s award. Showalter 鈥� whose father served at Normandy in the 1st Infantry Division (Big Red One) in World War II and grew up in Pensacola, Florida, near the Naval Air Station 鈥� said of O’Day receiving the award, “He’s the type of guy that does things like this that nobody knows about.” Showalter added O’Day does things because they’re right. “That’s why he’s been so successful on the field and really in the game of life,” he said.
This was the fifth year for the聽The Bob Feller Act of Valor Award,聽created by聽Peter Fertig along with the support of the U.S. Navy, the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial, the Cleveland Indians, the Baseball Hall of Fame, the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association, and the gracious consent of Bob鈥檚 widow, Anne Feller. The award brings the three aspect of Feller鈥檚 life, his career in baseball, the U.S. Navy and his enshrinement in the Hall聽of Fame.
Bob Feller pitched for 18 seasons with the Cleveland Indians, and missed nearly聽four of聽his prime聽seasons聽to serve with the U.S. Navy in World War II. The velocity on his fastball earned him nicknames “Bullet Bob,” “Rapid Robert,” and the “Heater from Van Meter,鈥� the latter referencing the聽righty鈥檚 hometown in Iowa. Feller served on the USS Alabama as a Chief Petty Officer and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in 1962. Feller聽passed away in 2010 at the age of 92.
The聽Jerry Coleman Award is聽presented to聽a Marine Noncommissioned Officer who possesses outstanding聽leadership and unyielding support for the U.S. Marine Corps and the United States. Coleman, the only major league player to see聽combat in two wars, was a Navy pilot before transferring to the Marines. He was an All-Star in 1950 with the New York Yankees, where he won four聽World聽Series as a second baseman. Coleman聽was also a manager聽in San Diego, then winning the 2005 Ford C. Frick Award presented by the National Baseball Hall-of-Fame for聽鈥渕ajor contributions to baseball and broadcasting excellence.鈥� Coleman was a radio broadcast play-by-play man for the Padres from 1972 until his death in 2014.
Nominations come from fleet and were submitted in early June of this year.
