Strike Out Hunger!

As the ball thuds into the catcher’s mitt and the umpire calls “Strike three!”, a cheer goes up from the crowd assembled at Bernie Arbour Stadium. It’s pitcher Jacob Gajic’s third strikeout of the night, and means another donation has been made to Mission Services of Hamilton.

The Strike Out Hunger program, established in 2024 in partnership with Little Caesars, has become an integral part of the Cardinals’ season. With their pitchers recording 319 strikeouts this season, the Cardinals raised over $957 for Mission Services. Gajic says the campaign adds some extra motivation for him when he’s on the mound.

“When I get a strikeout and I hear them announce it on the PA system, and then see them running with the spear and I think, ‘This is pretty sweet, let’s get some more of those.’”

With each strikeout that the Cardinals’ pitchers record, three dollars is donated to Mission Services and an imitation pizza is added to a spear carried by Cardinals intern, symbolizing the campaign’s relationship with Little Caesars. At the end of the game, the pizza-loaded spear is then given to the player of the game.

“It’s one of the most loved promotions that we have done,” said Cardinals owner Eric Spearin. “The addition of the Little Caesars spear and having the intern run with it across the stands adds more excitement to the game and gets people talking about the community initiative behind it.”

That community initiative started as an extension of a previous partnership between Mission Services and Little Caesars, one that started four years ago. Little Caesars franchise owner Steve McGregor has donated the extra pizzas from his storefronts to Mission Services’ Good Food Centre since 2020, and says taking the next step in his support for Mission Services was an easy decision.

“The need for feeding hunger right now is huge, and this was a way that we could do it,” he said. “It’s the first time that we’ve branched out and done something like this, and even if we don’t see a spike in business, the awareness has been great, and it’s been good being in our community.”

With Cardinals pitchers seeing success on the mound and awareness and funds being raised to fight food insecurity in Hamilton, the future seems bright for the Strike Out Hunger campaign.

“I’m excited to see this partnership off to a great first season,” said Glen Cuthbert, development officer at Mission Services. “Working with the Cardinals and Little Caesars to each use our specialties to make an impact in our community has been fantastic.”

It’s a sentiment that hits home for Hamilton native Jacob Gajic, every time he takes to the mound aiming to strike out more batters for the Cardinals, and raise more money for Mission Services.

“I’ve been in Hamilton for all 24 years of my life, so it’s really special that the thing I love the most (baseball) is giving back to the place I love most.”