The Good Reason Why Ken Rosenthal Wears Those Bow Ties

While there was only be one winner when the Toronto Blue Jays faced the Kansas City Royals in game six of their American League Championship Series last night (Kansas City, boooo), the National Kidney Foundation scored a big victory regardless of which team came out on top.

This in no small part was thanks to a sartorial choice by Fox Sports senior baseball writer Ken Rosenthal to sport a bow tie during the game broadcast. It turns out Rosenthal has a really good reason for wearing those bow ties on television — they're supporting charities.

Rosenthal's bow ties are the signature statement of The BowTie Cause, a charitable clothier that specializes in creating high-end bow ties that are designed to support specific charities, foundations and causes.

Founded in 2010 by former National Football League (NFL) player Dhani Jones, BowTie Cause currently sells 175 different statement bow ties on its website at the price of $57 US each ($74.48 Canadian). Ten dollars from each bow tie sold goes towards the charity it was designed for.

Jones originally gravitated to the bow tie to support Kunta Littlejohn, a high school friend of his who had lymphoma. When Jones got drafted to play for the NFL's New York Giants, Littlejohn's advice for the Potomac, Michigan native was that if he wanted to look sharp in New York he'd need to wear a bow tie. As an act of support for Littlejohn, Jones did. And Jones has since turned that advice into this giving initiative.

Rosenthal came to his now ubiquitous bow tie a little more reluctantly.

As Rosenthal explained in a column he wrote in 2011, the bow tie was an idea thrust on him by one of Fox Sports' vice-presidents in order to give him a signature look when he was on television.

 He did not enjoy it.

"I hated the idea of wearing a bow tie, hated calling attention to myself," Rosenthal wrote. "My wife didn’t like it, either. She picks out all my clothes; I’m red-green color blind. We agreed — the bow tie looked stupid. My two teenage daughters, fashion mavens both, thought the whole thing was ridiculous."

Rosenthal changed his stance, however, when he hooked up Jones and knew that every time he'd be on baseball broadcasts he'd be supporting BowTie Cause.

"I am honored to wear each and every tie, and to represent so many great organizations," he clarified.

Rosenthal now makes a point to tweet about what tie he's wearing and who it will be supporting before each baseball broadcast he's working.

In the Toronto vs. Kansas City series Rosenthal and BowTie Cause supported the following:

Game six — National Kidney Foundation
Game five - Stand Up To Cancer
Game four - Do It For Durrett Foundation
Game three - Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing
Game two - LUNGevity
Game one - Pelotonia