I'm lifting this whole from C. Trent, because it's important.

It turns out that former Red reliever Ricky Stone developed a malignant brain tumor in August and, because he was pitching in Taiwan at the time, doesn't have insurance in America.  A group of MLB wives, headed by Nelson Figueroa's wife Alisa, are setting up an auction with the proceeds going to help Ricky Stone's treatment.

Here is the e-mail that Alisa Figueroa sent to C. Trent.

Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Alisa Figueroa. My husband, Nelson, pitched for the NY Mets this season.

I hope you can publicize our online memorabilia auction to be held this coming week to benefit 33-year-old Ricky Stone, relief pitcher for Astros (2001-2004), Padres (2004), and Reds (2005, 2007), who was stricken with a malignant brain tumor in August 2008. Over 100 baseball players donated signed jerseys, bats, baseballs, and baseball equipment to help Ricky. In August of this year Ricky Stone, a former MLB Pitcher, was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Earlier in the season Ricky had been playing baseball in Taiwan. Because of this the Stone family had insurance in Taiwan, but none in the States. Tracey, Ricky's wife, was to begin a job with insurance for the entire family on Monday morning and Ricky's seizure was the Thursday evening preceding her job.

Major League Baseball is an amazing family. Almost immediately after learning about what had happened to Ricky Erin Pote (husband Lou) was in touch with me. Erin was in Taiwan. She and I had never met. Our common link was that we were both friends with Ricky and Tracey. Erin said, "I want to help. What can we do? Do you think we could collect items for an online auction to help them out?".

As I had been one of the founders of the MLB Wives auction for 9-11, I told her we could try to do it. The first step was to contact other wives. The second step, as Ricky and Tracey are incredibly strong Christians, was to contact all the team Chaplains and ask for their help. The response we had was absolutely amazing. In the past two months since our first request we have received over 100 unique items. These items represent twenty teams. We have items from current Baseball Hall of Famers, Golf and boxing hall of famers as well. We also have items from some rookies who wanted to do anything they could to help another member of the baseball "family" in any way they could.

Erin and I have joined together with Helping Hands Ministries, Inc. (a 501c charity) in order to set up a fund for the Stone family through them. This will allow all items purchased through this auction to be a tax deduction. In addition this allowed us to partner with eBay's Mission Fish program so that 100% of the monies from this auction can be donated to Helping Hands Ministries, Inc. and in return, to the Stone family. Also, we have COAs from Herman Darvick who is an independant consultant for PSA/DNA experts. Finally, we have a website with information about the Stone family and the auction (http://rallyforrecovery.blogspot.com).

Now the last and most important part of making this auction a success is what we are hoping to receive from you. As baseball writers your words reach the fans. Tho articles you write inform and inspire others. We are hoping that you will be able to write something to inform those readers in your area of our auction and the specifics.

I am including two attachements. One is a press release written for Erin and I from a friend who does this sort of thing as a profession. The other is our list of items for our auction. I am including this spreadsheet so that you can see items you think may be more specific for your own city should you choose to write a piece on your own about the auction. The general website, again, is http://rallyforrecovery.blogspot.com. The press release has a link to our eBay store.

I think I can speak for all of us here when I wish Ricky a speedy and full recovery, and wish his family luck during this hard time.  If you want to do more to help, click on those links, and they'll provide more information for what you can do.