An apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Mormon Night at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California, on Friday, 22 July 2011.
Elder Quentin L. Cook, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, attended the event with more than 4,200 Latter-day Saints and their friends. Elder Cook threw a strike, which was caught by local Church leader Elder Jerryl Garns.
The annual event marks the beginning of the Pioneer Day celebration commemorating the arrival of the Mormon pioneers to the Salt Lake Valley on 24 July 1847.
The Dodgers also invited several children from the Church’s Primary organization to take the field with the Dodger players at the beginning of the game. Each child was given a baseball that the players had signed. Joshua Creek, a Latter-day Saint recording group, sang the national anthem, as well as “God Bless America” during the seventh-inning stretch.
Mormon Night at Dodger Stadium is more than 20 years old and is the largest and longest-running community event held by the Dodgers organization. Several other Major League Baseball teams hold similar events.
New this year was the introduction of a commemorative wristband inscribed “LA Mormon Night 2011 LA.” Also new this year was the addition of a Facebook page promoting Mormon Night. The result is that several people from different states learned of the event and traveled to California to attend.