Jake Landis will visit Progressive Field on Tuesday as part of his Jacob’s Ride program, through which he’s bicycling over 10,000 miles, to all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums in 2013.

His goal: raising $1 million for cochlear implants, or bionic ears, which help those with hearing impairment hear more clearly.

The 24-year-old left his home in Annapolis, Md., for the 175-day trip, which began at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., and will end on Sept. 24 at Marlins Park in Miami. At Progressive Field on Tuesday, he’ll throw out a ceremonial first pitch before the game.

According to Jacob’s Ride, hearing impairment is now the №1 birth defect among children born in America; over 500,000 Americans live in the United States with severe to profound hearing loss. Cochlear implants (CI) are the most successful medical intervention for those profoundly deaf or severely hard-of-hearing. A small, complex electronic device, it bypasses the damaged parts of the inner ear and delivers electrical impulses to the auditory nerve sending information to the brain.

Funds raised by Jacob’s Ride will go to existing foundations and hospitals that work with cochlear implant candidates. These organizations include:

The Gift of Hearing Foundation, Massachusetts

Hearing Loss Association of America

Johns Hopkins Medicine: Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Maryland

Mayo Clinic, Minnesota

J.W. Pickle Foundation, Tennessee

Find more information on Jacob’s Ride by clicking here.

— TribeVibe contributor Joel Hammond