SAUGUS – Dario Pizzano of Saugus has accomplished a lot with a baseball bat.
From starring as the Saugus American Little League World Series team in 2003 to completing a 10-year professional career with the Seattle Mariners and New York Mets, he has certainly covered all the bases.
But he is most proud of his work as fundraising director for a nonprofit organization called MS4MS (Mission Stages for Multiple Sclerosis).
“It became something I was very passionate about – as passionate as baseball,” said Pizzano, who played at Malden Catholic University and Columbia University, where he was inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Pizzano’s mother Tracie has been battling MS since 1998.
“I’ve always been interested in getting involved in a cause that means a lot to me,” he said. “I always envisioned using the game of baseball to raise awareness.”
Well, let’s call it a home run. The second annual #SpreadingOrange MS4MS charity event will take place on Saturday, September 21st at Fenway Park when the Red Sox host the Minnesota Twins at 4:10 p.m.
Pizzano, who has helped raise more than $1,000,000 since 2019, said, “We’re approaching this from all angles.”
“Corporate sponsorships are where we make most of our money,” he said. “We have tickets for the event that cost $92. That ticket includes admission to the game, a $10 donation, an orange shirt and a custom hat that we were able to make with the help of the Red Sox… They’re giving us passes to batting practice and we’ll be in five different areas under the Sam Adams deck. Cask ‘N Flagon is hosting a postgame meet-and-greet for us and even donating a percentage of their proceeds at the end of the night.”
Pizzano will also team up with another Saugus native, content creator and baseball star Jared Carrabis, to spread the message.
“I literally grew up with him and have known him my whole life,” Pizzano said. “I’ll be a guest on his podcast on Sunday and he’ll help me promote the event.”
Last year the event had 180 participants, but Pizzano said he hopes for 350 this time.
“It’s just going to be an all-around fantastic event,” said Pizzano, who lives in New Jersey and works for JP Morgan in Manhattan. “We want to paint Fenway orange.”
During his playing days as a professional baseball player, Pizzano decided he didn’t want to wait any longer to raise awareness about MS.
“I reached out to a lot of people and connected with Sam Greenberg in 2019. He started (MS4MS) in a college dorm and we’ve accomplished a lot since then,” Pizzano said. “I started as a lead ambassador.”
Today MS4MS has 27 ambassadors across the country.
When Pizzano was asked about his return to Fenway Park, he started talking about one of his favorite stadiums with the first pitch.
“Being six or seven miles from Fenway, I went to countless games. I remember my first game when I was six years old, against the A’s. Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco were on that team,” he said. “I also remember watching the Red Sox in Williamsport. Then they welcomed us to the field when we came back. We threw out the first pitch and I stood in center field with Johnny Damon while they sang the national anthem. That has a special place in my heart.”
Homepage: https://ms4ms.org
Tickets: https://fevo-enterprise.com/event/Ms4msday24
Donate (Goal: $40,000): https://my.onecause.com/fundraiser/organizations/sf-0013c000021ii5lAAA/fundraisers/fundraiser:4ffb098e-25a8-4dad-94a1-a5fed49f7767
