April 21, 2006

Barry Zito to Receive Dave Stewart Community Service Award
Zito to be Presented with Award on Saturday, April 22

OAKLAND, Calif. - Oakland A’s pitcher Barry Zito has been named the recipient of the 2005 Dave Stewart Community Service Award, which is given annually to an A’s player in recognition of charitable contributions throughout Northern California and across the nation.

Dave Stewart will present Zito with the award prior to Saturday's 1:05 pm game against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

On April 5, 2005, Barry Zito founded Strikeouts For Troops™ a national program to help our war wounded service members and their families. Strikeouts For Troops is helping to bring some comforts of home such as daily necessities and travel and housing expenses for family members to visit the soldier during the rehabilitation process.

Through Strikeouts For Troops, Zito donated $100 for each of the 171 strikeouts he recorded during the 2005 season. In addition, Zito visited soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, visited troops at Travis Air Force Base and has met with a number of wounded marines from Iraq prior to A's games last year.

Nearly $150,000 was raised last year, which included contributions from over 20 players from the A's and other Major League Baseball clubs along with fan donations through strikeoutsfortroops.org. This season, Zito has pledged to donate $200 for each strikeout he records and continues to recruit additional players from around the league to make contributions based on various statistical categories. Players that are involved in this program are Eric Chavez, Mark Kotsay, Nick Swisher, Mark Ellis, Jason Kendall in addition to Manny Ramirez and Curt Schilling of Boston, Matt Miller and C.C. Sabathia of Cleveland, Tim Hudson and Chipper Jones of Atlanta and Shawn Estes and Jake Peavy of San Diego.

The Dave Stewart Community Service Award originated in 1996 in honor of Stewart’s many years of community service in the Bay Area. Throughout the years, Stewart has been involved in many non-profit organizations including the Oakland Boys and Girls Club and KIDSCORPS, an agency that helped develop year-round sports programs in the Bay Area.

Season ticket plans for the 2006 season are available by calling (510) 638-GoA's (4627) or on-line at oaklandathletics.com. Single-game tickets for all A’s home games can be purchased at all usual ticket outlets, including the McAfee Coliseum Box Office, on-line at oaklandathletics.com and Tickets.com outlets or over the phone by calling (877) 493-BALL. Individual game tickets for the 2006 season are priced at $40 (plaza club), $38 (MVP), $30 (field level), $30 (Plaza Infield), $20 (Plaza Level), $14 (Plaza Outfield) and $10 (Bleachers and Plaza Reserved).