Fact No. 1: Millions of people will spend this first official day of summer basking under a hot sun, whether it involves a game of baseball or any other activity that takes them outdoors just like they have done their entire lives.

Fact No. 2: Skin cancer is the fastest growing cancer in the U.S., claiming one life per hour. One out of every five children will grow up to develop skin cancer, which also is the leading cancer killer of women between the ages of 20 and 30.

Those inescapable facts go hand-in-hand and have the rapt attention of Major League Baseball, which on Tuesday kicked off its biggest campaign yet to help raise awareness and prevention of skin cancer. The "Play Smart When It Comes to the Sun" program again is being done jointly with the American Academy of Dermatology, and this year's annual initiative is expanded with a greater overall visibility to the public and will include the Shade Foundation created by Shonda Schilling, wife of Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling and a skin cancer survivor.

"The reason I want to do this is because given the fact people are in the sun so much and obviously skin cancers and melanomas are growing, we need to be very thorough in our examinations and conscientious in visiting doctors," Commissioner Bud Selig said in announcing this expanded initiative. "I want baseball to play a role in that."

Selig has a significant personal interest in this as well.

Last Nov. 2, he was receiving his annual physical from Dr. Ian Gilson and was deemed in "great shape." It was exactly one week after the Red Sox had won their world championship, and people were voting for a U.S. president on that day. Then, just as Selig was walking out of the doctor's office, something happened that shook his world to the core. "Come back here. What's that on your face?" the doctor asked him.

Selig, 70, had seen a blotch on the skin above his right eye each morning that he looked into the mirror before that, and had ignored it as so many others are prone to do these days. Now there was no ignoring it.

"[Dr. Gilson] also works on some baseball for me, and we were having a nice discussion," Selig said. "He said I was in great health, I was out the door, and then he said, 'COME back here.' He put his gloves on, he felt that area on my forehead, and a couple young doctors were in there, and I could tell from the look on his face he wasn't the least bit happy. I went to a dermatologist the next day, he cut something out, and that was the beginning of a very tough period. Which had a wonderful ending."

Selig was told that subsequent Friday -- three days after the checkup -- that the blotch was cancerous and that it was a Clark Level IV melanoma, one of the worst, with the possibility that it already could have spread through the lymphatic system and could have become incurable and fatal. There was a 90-percent chance that the skin cancer was caught early enough to keep it from spreading.

The ABCD Rule American Cancer Society's monthly skin check
Dermatologists recommend doing a skin check monthly so you will be more likely to notice small changes or even find a skin cancer when it's still small. The American Cancer Society has an "ABCD" rule that is a convenient guide to follow. Be on the lookout and notify your doctor about any changes in the following:
A	ASYMMETRY: Half of a mole or birthmark does not match the other.
B	BORDER: The edges are irregular, ragged, notched, or blurred.
C	COLOR: The color is not the same all over, but may have differing shades of brown or black, sometimes with patches of red, white, or blue.
D	DIAMETER: The area is larger than six millimeters (about one-quarter inch -- the size of a pencil eraser) or is growing larger.
The most important warning sign for skin cancer is a spot on the skin that is changing in size, shape, or color over a period of one month to one or two years.

On Dec. 6, Selig had three hours of surgery that included the removal of two lymph nodes. He also had plastic surgery and skin transplants. He was hospitalized at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center for three days, two days longer than he had expected. On Dec. 13, after his six-week mostly private nightmare, Selig finally heard the news he had hoped -- "you're clear."

Now on this first official day of summer, Selig said he wants others to avoid that nightmare or to at least have that doctor who also can make that crucial evaluation.

"The experience that I had taught me a lot," Selig said. "There's not an awareness. When the doctor called me that Friday afternoon in early November and told me I had a Level IV melanoma, I was stunned. I was not a guy who ever sat out in the sun, and obviously I'm very fair-skinned. I started doing a lot of research, it was serious obviously, and I knew it was, I went to Sloan-Kettering in early December, but awareness is so important because it can save lives.

"People need to get checked. They don't seem to understand that. It's the same thing with colon cancer and colonoscopies. Obviously, I was very fortunate I had the surgery and it didn't spread and I was fine. I will forever be grateful to [Dr. Gilson] for discovering it. But we need to really continue and be conscientious. Baseball can be a most appropriate vehicle for that. I've worked with Shonda Schilling and the people at Sloan-Kettering, and we're going to have a very effective program."

For the seventh consecutive year, Major League Baseball will team with the AAD to provide free skin cancer screenings to players, coaches, staff members and their families at MLB ballparks. Selig initiated an expanded approach to the "Play Smart" program this year. It includes working with the National Council on Skin Cancer Prevention (sponsored by AAD, the American Cancer Society and The Skin Cancer Foundation) and the Shade Foundation. A national ad awareness campaign begins Tuesday, with public-service announcements generated to clubs along with scoreboard copy and PA announcements. Educational materials will be distributed as well at the John Hancock All-Star FanFest next month in Detroit.

The National Council advises use of at least one of the following four measures to help reduce the risk of skin cancer:

• Avoid the sun between 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
• Wear sun-protective clothing when exposed to sunlight.
• Use sunscreen with a sun protective factor (SPF) of 15 or higher.
• Avoid artificial sources of ultraviolet light.

The Shade Foundation was created to educate youths. The group's goals are to raise funds to place sun-safe shades on playgrounds across Arizona and eventually the country, as well as to institute a sun-safety program with school curricula.

"I don't want any family ever to lose someone that they love just because they didn't think that skin cancer was serious," Shonda Schilling said.

Bud Selig learned that as well and said he never will forget those words Dr. Gilson uttered as the Commissioner was on his way out of that doctor's office on a routine checkup. Now Selig said he hopes baseball and its ever-expanding reach will help make a difference in this area.

"I hope so," he said. "Knowing what I know, we'll do everything we can. If we save one life, it's all worthwhile. If we can save more, then great."