Mark Teixeira Talks Prostate Cancer Awareness, Shares Thoughts on MLB's COVID-19 Management (Exclusive)

Mark Teixeira is making sure men get healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. The [...]

By Brian Jones

Mark Teixeira is making sure men get healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. The three-time MLB All-Star and World Series champion has partnered with Depend and the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) to launch the Stand Strong for Men's Health campaign, an initiative to de-stigmatize male incontinence, celebrate men addressing their health, and encourage consumers to participate so their actions can directly benefit a $200K donation to prostate cancer research. PopCulture.com caught up with the former New York Yankees first baseman and revealed why he wanted to get involved with this campaign.

"It was interesting for me because of my personal experience with my grandfather and taking care of him at the end of his life," Teixeira said when talking about how his representation approached him about the campaign. "I said, 'Yeah, I'm in.' When you can partner with two great brands for something like the Stand Strong for Men's Health campaign, it was a great opportunity." Teixeira went on to talk about his grandfather, who he said was one of his "heroes." The five-time Gold Glove winner revealed his grandfather served in World War II, worked the field mills of Pittsburgh and grew up during the depression.

"He was a guy's guy," Teixeira stated. "He was tough. He had eight kids and 20 grandkids. Every time we spent weekends or vacations with my grandfather, I couldn't leave my side. As he got older, health issues including Parkinson's disease took over and he needed a little more help. Depend products were one of the things that allowed him to have a good quality of life in the last few years we were taking care of him."

It's important for men to take care of themselves, especially during the pandemic. With Teixeira playing in the MLB for 14 years, he paid close attention to how the league handled the 2020 season, which was shortened to 60 games due to COVID-19. Despite the outbreaks within the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals organizations, the league was able to get through the season, and Teixeira said he was impressed with how the league kept everything together.

"I think they did a fantastic job," Teixeira said. "I think you have to give so much credit to Major League Baseball, the teams, the players, all of the support staff for making sure they stay safe and their loved ones stay safe...It's not easy. It's very difficult because of the nature of baseball playing every single day, and traveling so much made it that those cases and those spikes could have gone league-wide — and it didn't."

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