Chicago Cubs pitcher Jameson Taillon, a cancer survivor, struck out 10 Pittsburgh Pirates batters during his six-inning start Sunday, raising $2,410 to combat cancer through a project organized by North Chicago-based AbbVie, the Cubs and Major League Baseball.
Each time a Cub pitcher strikes out a hitter this season at Wrigley Field, AbbVie donates $241 to Stand Up To Cancer, and for every other strikeout thrown during the entire baseball season throughout Major League Baseball, the company makes a $20 contribution, up to $1 million.
“I’m not a huge strikeout pitcher, but the wind was pretty hard, and I knew I had to get guys swinging and missing,” Taillon said. “Every time they show it, it’s pretty cool,” he added, referring to the sign on the video boards indicating another AbbVie donation was made.
AbbVie became the official pharmaceutical partner of Major League Baseball with a five-year arrangement starting with the 2026 season in all 30 ballparks in North America, raising awareness of cancer and money for research to fight the disease.
“This expands what the Cubs and AbbVie are doing to raise awareness of patients, caregivers and fans because everyone knows someone affected by cancer,” Tracie Haas, AbbVie’s senior vice president of corporate affairs, said.
Haas said the program started a year ago between AbbVie and the Cubs, where the company made a donation for each strikeout by a Cub pitcher, totaling $250,000 for the season. After that successful effort, the partnership with MLB was negotiated.
“This is new for us,” Haas said, referring to the MLB partnership. “The Cubs are a major brand in the Chicago area, and we look to expand this throughout MLB. We’re very purposeful choosing our partners.”
April Brown, the senior vice president for social responsibility for MLB, said after AbbVie’s success last year with the Cubs and the relationship developed between the two organizations, a league-wide partnership was a natural.
“Doing this for 162 games for each team creates a shared synergy for cancer research and cancer awareness,” Brown said. “This was very successful from the very start.”
For Taillon, each strikeout he throws is very personal. Now in his 10th major league season, he said he started getting migraine headaches and needed more sleep in the 2017 season while pitching for the Pirates. When it got worse, he knew he needed medical advice.
“I knew something was probably wrong,” Taillon said. “If you feel something is wrong, it probably is. I was diagnosed and had surgery the next day to remove the tumor. There were a lot of doctors’ appointments after that.”
Now cancer-free, Taillon said his testicular cancer, which required the removal of one testicle, is not something that will impact his ability to have children. He does not have any as of yet. His cancer was stage 1B. He did not require radiation or chemotherapy.
During his career, Taillon spent five years with the Pirates, two seasons with the New York Yankees and became a Cub at the start of the 2022 campaign. In some ways, cancer has created a fraternity among some players like Taillon, and former Cubs Anthony Rizzo and Jon Lester — all cancer survivors.
“I was on first base in a game against the Cubs,” Taillon said. “Lester was on the mound. Rizzo took a moment and said, ‘We’re all here together and we all survived cancer.’”
As the season continues, there is a reason for the amount of money donated for each strikeout. Haas said $241 is donated because it represents the number of people diagnosed with cancer every hour.
The $20 for all the other strikeouts thrown this season is significant because 20% of the world’s population will be diagnosed with cancer before reaching the age of 75, according to a news release from AbbVie.
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Working toward a cure for cancer is also something AbbVie does every day. Haas said it has five cancer medicines on the market, and another 36 “in our oncology pipeline.” Those in use now include ones treating blood cancer and tumors.
Brown said Stand Up To Cancer was founded in 2008, and MLB is a founding donor because, “We want to be part of the solution.” It also has partnerships with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, the American Red Cross and the Jackie Robinson Foundation.