Cardinals Join St. Louis Baseball Writers To Host 7th Annual #JOIN4JOE Marrow Drive

A Portion of Ticket Sales from the September 5th Cardinals Game will be Donated to Be The Match® in Honor of Longtime Cardinals Beat Writer Joe Strauss

ST. LOUIS, Mo., July 21, 2022 – For the seventh consecutive year, the St. Louis Cardinals, in conjunction with the St. Louis Baseball Writers and Be The Match®, will host the #Join4Joe marrow donor drive to add individuals to the Be The Match national registry and increase the chances of finding a donor match for those awaiting a life-saving blood stem cell transplant.

The event was organized to honor the legacy of Joe Strauss, who covered the Cardinals for 14 years at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and passed away in December 2015 at the age of 54 after a courageous battle fighting leukemia. The St. Louis Cardinals have agreed to annually partner with the St. Louis Baseball Writers and Be The Match® to sponsor this event in Joe’s name.  Through the #Join4Joe drive, nearly 300 potential donors have joined the registry since 2016.

To help further the work of Be The Match® and in support of the Strauss family in their efforts to save lives, fans can purchase tickets to the September 5 game and $5 of each ticket will be donated to Be The Match® to support patient services. The Cardinals encourage fans to visit cardinals.com/join4joe to purchase tickets and sign up to become a marrow donor.  Fans can also visit the #Join4Joe tables in Ford Plaza on September 5 to learn more about how to become a donor. 

This year, the Cardinals will hold a pregame ceremony on September 5 to recognize the efforts of Emily Brickler, a long time Cardinals fan.  Brickler has personally helped add over 100 potential marrow donors to the registry in hopes of finding a match for her mother, Kristin, a survivor of esophageal cancer, who was recently diagnosed with Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS), a rare blood cancer that can be cured by a blood stem cell transplant.

With more than 39 million potential blood stem cell donors, the Be The Match Registry® is the most diverse donor registry. Seventy percent of patients needing a transplant will not have a family member match and therefore rely upon Be The Match® to find one. Approximately 12,000 people remain in need of an unrelated donor each year. Be The Match® is specifically looking for donors age 18-40, as research shows that cells from younger donors lead to more successful transplants.

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About Be The Match^®
For the thousands of people diagnosed every year with life-threatening blood cancers—like leukemia and lymphoma—a cure exists. Over the past 30 years Be The Match® operated by the National Marrow Donor Program® (NMDP), has managed the most diverse marrow registry in the world. We work every day to save lives through transplant.

Be The Match connects patients with their donor match for a life-saving marrow or umbilical cord blood transplant. People can contribute to the cure as a member of the Be The Match Registry®, financial contributor or volunteer. Be The Match provides patients and their families one-on-one support, education, and guidance before, during and after transplant.

Be The Match is operated by the National Marrow Donor Program® (NMDP), a nonprofit organization that matches patients with donors, educates health care professionals and conducts research through its research program, CIBMTR® (Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research®), so more lives can be saved. To learn more about the cure, visit BeTheMatch.org or call 1 (800) MARROW-2.