Dad visits Tropicana Field on 30-day MLB stadium tour honoring late son, promoting water safety

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Jonathan St. Clair is visiting all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums in 30 days to honor his late toddler son, Jasper, who died in an accidental drowning 14 years ago, all while raising money and awareness for childhood water safety.

Tampa Bay Rays host dad

The backstory:

St. Clair and his wife, Julie, founded the Jasper Ray Foundation after losing their 21-month-old son, Jasper, to an accidental drowning 14 years ago. The toddler was at his 19-year-old babysitter’s home, walked out an open door while left unattended, and fell into a pool where rescuers could not revive him.

Now, St. Clair is on day 12 of the Wave Maker Tour, a 30-day trek to all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums. He began the journey in Seattle on July 17 and stopped in Pittsburgh on Monday to see the Pirates beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-2 in 10 innings. He arrives in Florida on Tuesday to catch the Tampa Bay Rays host the Texas Rangers at Tropicana Field at 6:40 p.m. before heading to Miami on Wednesday to see the Marlins play the Philadelphia Phillies.

Baseball stadium water safety effort

Why you should care:

Drowning is the leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 4, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Through his stadium visits, St. Clair wears a life jacket around the concourses to spark conversations with families about early swim lessons, pool fences and wearing life vests on boats.

"Every time I walk into a stadium, and if you can see, I've got a life jacket that I'm wearing," St. Clair said. "I actually wear this to the stadium, and I walk around the stadium, and you can imagine the looks I'm getting. But the great thing is a lot of parents will stop and ask, or a young child will come up to me. And the other day, I had this young boy, probably four years old, walked up and tapped me on the leg and said, 'Hey mister, what are you wearing a lifejacket for at the baseball stadium?' And it was a legitimate question, but what it did was open the door for me to talk to his family about the importance of swim lessons and wearing life jackets on a boat, and all the things that kind of go along with it. So, as much of a kind of a crazy idea as it was, it actually is, it's doing exactly what I hoped it would do."

Childhood drowning prevention funding campaign

By the numbers:

The tour aims to raise $662,000 for drowning prevention programs nationwide over the 30-day period. The fundraising goal represents $1,000 for every day Jasper was alive, totaling 662 days.

St. Clair stays for the entirety of every game, including extra innings, and noted one of his favorite stadiums so far has been the Rogers Centre in Toronto.