The ESP Guitar Company

Last night was the sixth annual Metallica Night at AT&T Park, the home of Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants. As has been the case in previous years, the band treated the event as an opportunity to raise funds for a worthy charity, and this year's proceeds benefitted Metallica's own All Within My Hands Foundation, with a portion of all tickets sold for the April 23 Giants game against the Nationals being donated to the cause. The Metallica charity's mission is to create sustainable communities by supporting workforce education, the fight against hunger, and other critical local services, with support for music education programs and food banks.

The band went far out of their way to support this great event; they're in the midst of a European tour, and had to leave straight from the stadium to fly back for their upcoming show in Germany. But by all accounts, this year's Metallica Night was a huge success. In addition to raising a bunch of money for an admirable cause, drummer Lars Ulrich threw out the first pitch, and the festivities included ESP-playing legend Kirk Hammett performing the National Anthem on a specially-customized KH Signature Series guitar, outfitted with his new limited-edition EMG KH Bone Breaker pickups, that was decked out in Giants logos for the occasion. Watch Mr. Hammett below.