First responders usually play for the same team, but on July 19, local firefighters, police officers and paramedics from Davenport, Illinois, and Rock Island, Illinois, faced one another in a Battle of the Badges baseball game. This is the second annual match, but the two towns have been competing against each other for four years. They made the decision last year to make the match official and have the proceeds from attendance go to charity.
Rock Island firefighter Blake Humphrey told KWQC, "We got the idea, the thought, if we're going to be [playing this game every year], let's do something good for the community."
The two towns plan to donate to a new organization every year. Last year, the teams sponsored the Ronald McDonald House and raised over $1,000 with their event. This year, they doubled that amount for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The teams exchange friendly trash talk and play their hardest to win, but in the end, it is all about the community. It is a chance for the paramedics, firefighters and police officers to give a little extra back to the charities in their towns.