Heart Association Fundraiser Honoring Richie Ashburn Is Next Week At Phillies' Ballpark
By Mike DeNardo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- If you've ever wanted to try your hand at hitting a ball out of Citizens Bank Park, you can try next week -- for charity.
It's the 15th annual "Richie Ashburn Home Runs for Heart," where, for a $400 donation, you can step up to the plate at Citizens Bank Park, next Tuesday and Wednesday, and swing away.
The event raises money for the American Heart Association, but this year it's also raising awareness of the need to be trained for CPR.
"If you can breathe, you can do CPR, is basically how I understand it," says Richie Ashburn's son Richard (in photo), the baseball coach at Pottsgrove High. "And I do have a CPR card, being a coach. And it's just a matter of taking a course. There's lots of free courses out there."
Brian Atkins of New Castle, Del. knows firsthand. His 17-year-old son, Brian Jr., was saved from heart failure two years ago by two hours of CPR.
"The quality of CPR that he received at that time was just off the charts, and it shows," says the elder Brian, "because he has no signs or any ramifications of what happened."
More information is at heart.org/phillywalk.
