Gala Under the Lights Puts Child Cancer in the Spotlight

     In the glow of Oracle Park’s evening lights, Buster Posey and his wife, Kristen, stirred more than just memories last Thursday as they helped muster hope. Their seventh annual BP28 Gala, held on the very field where cheers echo and legends stand, raised $1.3 million for pediatric cancer research, pushing BP28’s total contributions past a meaningful $7 million.

Posey, once the Giants’ stoic catcher and now the team’s president of baseball operations, has traded in some of his on field gear for a different kind of clutch performance, this one in service of kids facing life’s toughest innings. Surrounded by family, survivors, teammates, doctors, and advocates, he made it clear this is more than a fundraiser. It is a lifeline.

Three hundred forty people dressed in gala regalia, past and present Giants players, coaches, and front office staff, gathered on the field. The event partnered with UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals and the V Foundation, two institutions pushing for less brutal, more precise treatments for childhood cancers, and for expanded clinical trials so that children get more than the standard hope. Part of the evening’s weight came from remembering and honoring young lives lost, and celebrating those still fighting.

One of the emotional anchors of the night was Charlotte Murdoff. She was only 18 when she died in 2021 after battling osteosarcoma, a rare and aggressive bone cancer. Her siblings, Maggie and Matthew, joined with Dr. William Temple, a pioneer in pediatric blood and marrow transplantation, to share her story. Charlotte’s life, by all accounts, was full of the fierce determination that defines many young cancer warriors.

Posey, father of four, said what many could not help but think: when a child gets sick, it cuts deeper. “You see how vulnerable children are,” he told the Chronicle. Children, he said, are often overlooked in the public sense of vulnerability. When people hear “cancer,” they might think of retirees or adults in the thick of life, but not a child with all the years ahead of them. The gala asked its audience to face that vulnerability, to lean into it.

Leaning in meant turning emotion into action. The $1.3 million will go entirely into funding pediatric cancer research, specifically the search for treatment options that are less toxic. Better therapies, better trials, better outcomes. With BP28 being the bridge between resources and scientific work, Posey emphasized how even modest grants can save a child’s life. Whether it is $10,000 or $500,000, those numbers are not just digits, they are possibilities.

The gala also made space to celebrate survivors: Lily Bakour, Enzo Keller, Quincy Lodge, and Rory Sullivan. Some were once children tethered to treatment, now living stories of perseverance. Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow, more famous for their coaxing of inside baseball narratives, played hosts. The stage moved from laughter to tears seamlessly, anchored always in the message that even in loss, there is purpose.

One of the quieter yet most powerful messages was that grief is not optional, but action is. Posey, visibly moved by stories shared during the evening, did not shy from tears. And he carried them not as weakness, but as fuel. “It’s OK to lean into the emotions,” he said. Because in the vulnerability lies both recognition and urgency.

Seven years in, BP28 has built more than a ledger of dollars. It has built a community of scientists, families, supporters, survivors, and witnesses. Together, they hold up the possibility that research will catch up, that treatments will be kinder, that side effects will be fewer, that futures will be fuller.

In the very place where so many Giants evenings end under stadium lights, this gala reminded everyone that the field can also be a stage for hope. For dreams. For better tomorrows. Buster Posey may have left behind the batter’s box, but in moments like this, he is still helping lead the play, offering not just inspiration, but impact.