LA Dodgers and San Francisco Giants Join Yankees and BLM Salute Nationals – Deadline

TO UPDATE: The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants joined a previous rally of their big league brothers honoring Black Lives Matter at a pregame ceremony.

As in the previous Yankees / Nationals game, the opening day at Dodger Stadium saw the replay of a video from The Players Alliance, a group of African-American players, calling for racial justice.

The Dodgers coaching staff and the entire San Francisco Giants squad wore shirts with “Black Lives Matter” written during the pregame warm-ups. Both teams knelt and held a black ribbon around the field during a moment of silence after The Players Alliance video.

During the national anthem, several Giants, including manager Gabe Kapler, continued to kneel, as they did during exhibition games in San Francisco. Mookie Betts (the only African-American player in the Dodgers, also knelt down. Cody Bellinger and Max Muncy stood beside him with their hands on their shoulders.

EARLIER: The New York Yankees and Washington Nationals paid a brief tribute to the Black Lives Matter movement at the pregame ceremony on baseball’s opening day. Both teams held up a long black ribbon while a BLM video made by the Players Alliance was projected, and then represented the national anthem.

Players Alliance is a group of current and former black players formed in the wake of George Floyd’s death. The video was played on the main scoreboard as players from both teams held the black ribbon, which stretched from right field to behind the plate and then down the left field line.

The players then knelt during a long moment of silence that followed, and then stood up during the national anthem, which was prerecorded by DC Washington.

The Nationals announced Wednesday that a Black Lives Matter / MLB roster would appear on the mound for their season opener series against the Yankees. The Nationals’ statement in their BLM squad said that all teams would use the artwork during games this weekend. They also made “Black Lives Matter” jerseys available for players to wear during warm-ups.

The political stance continues the Major League Baseball movement to allow its players to address social justice issues. The league said Wednesday that it would allow players to have a jersey patch with BLM or “United For Change” on the players’ uniforms. Several players and a coach knelt during the national anthem in the preseason, but only one MLB player previously knelt during a regular season game.

Before the game, White Hosue pandemic adviser Anthony S. Fauci threw the first ceremonial pitch to Nationals closer Sean Doolittle. Fauci, wearing a protective mask, bounced his short, wide shot from the home plate.