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Marly RiveraESPN Writer
WASHINGTON – Opening night in the nation’s capital provided a lasting image, and that was even before the game began.
The usual pre-game fanfare and presentation of the Washington Nationals, World Series champions and their initial rivals, the New York Yankees, were subdued on Thursday in front of eerily empty stands, but followed by the powerful video narrated by Morgan. Freeman, with The Players Alliance.
After a moment of silence, all coaches and players from both teams closed the field holding a black ribbon as a symbol of unity, and then knelt down to symbolize that Major League Baseball will be part of the national movement to raise awareness of racial injustice. .
“It was a way to bring hope and something to look at, a reason to show that we can all come together at the same time,” said Giancarlo Stanton, who shot a two-run homer with Max Scherzer in the Yankees’ 4-1 victory. . “I thought it was a good idea to bring power so that everyone would kneel at the same time and bring hope for whatever general reason you want to do it. And for me, it’s because of racial injustice and black lives in general.”
“We had a meeting and decided we wanted to do something together, something together,” said outfielder Aaron Judge, who went 2 for 3 with a double RBI. “We have a lot of guys in this club with different beliefs, feelings and different lifestyles and from different countries, and we wanted to respect all of that. As a team, we made the united decision to kneel right before the hymn, that was our decision and we wanted to go, we wanted to include everyone and we were all in this together. “
Stanton added: “The unity ceremony was initiated by the players. If you join, kneeling down can bring something good. It was not to stand out and do something separate for anything other than to bring unity for the same cause.”
Aaron Boone, in his third season as manager of the Yankees, made his pre-game video conference in a “Black Lives Matter” shirt. Boone, who has four children, including two he and his wife adopted from Haiti, said a lot of behind-the-scenes discussion was at the pre-game show as “it was important to our boys that they were united in what we did.”
The judge said this was only the beginning.
“This is definitely the first step for us because before, I know Bruce Maxwell got down on his knees during the anthem and we still didn’t have the support,” said Judge of the former Oakland Athletics catcher who in 2017 was the only major league. player to protest racial injustice by kneeling. “I don’t think we could have gotten the message across that we would stick together. Now having these conversations with our teammates, having those awkward conversations is the way to start this. Start with us first. Start with the team.”
Most Yankees players and coaching staff also wore “Black Lives Matter” jerseys during batting practice, and their gray away uniforms featured two patches with a similar message, one of them reading “Black Lives Matter” and the other “United for Change.”
The Yankees’ uniforms also featured a commemorative patch with the initials HGS, in recognition of the death of former general partner Henry G. “Hank” Steinbrenner. George M. Steinbrenner’s eldest son died on April 14 of a long-standing health problem.
Also Thursday, the Yankees confirmed that President Donald Trump will launch the first ceremonial pitch before one of his home games this season. The president first mentioned it during a press conference earlier in the day, saying he believed it would be before the Aug. 15 game against the Boston Red Sox, although the Yankees did not specify a date. According to Trump, Yankees President Randy Levine, whom he called “a great friend of mine to the Yankees,” extended the invitation.
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