PHOENIX (AP) – Major League Baseball has not always been at the forefront of the social justice movement in recent years, with leagues like the NBA and NFL generally at the center.
But in the wake of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis, and due to the quirks of a coronavirus-altered sports calendar, baseball is in a position to have the American sports world largely for just next week.
Even before Thursday’s opening day, players and coaches in the sport are taking a more active approach to supporting racial justice.
Examples include: San Francisco manager Gabe Kapler and various players kneeling during the national anthem before an exhibition game and several Dodgers, including National League MVP Cody Bellinger and three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw, speaking about racial injustice in a video message..
“I wanted to show my dissatisfaction with our clear systemic racism in our country and I wanted them (the players) to know that they had to make their own decisions and that we would respect and support them,” Kapler said after Monday’s game. “I wanted them to feel safe talking.”
The most recent protests during the anthem seemed to arouse the anger of President Donald Trump, who wrote on social media Tuesday morning.: “I am eager to live sports, but every time I see a player kneeling during the National Anthem, a sign of great disrespect for our country and our flag, the game ends for me!”
Baseball’s show of support for social justice continued on Tuesday.
Milwaukee Brewers posted a photo on social media of almost 20 players and coaches with shirts that say “Justice, Equality, Now”. The Brewers wore the shirts during their intrascale game.
It is a marked change for baseball, which has grappled with a slow decline in the number of black players for several decades. In recent seasons, the percentage of black players has been around 8%. For a sport that proudly recognizes Jackie Robinson, who broke the MLB color barrier in 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers, relegation has long been a source of frustration.
Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Lorenzo Cain, who is black, said recent discussions with his teammates have been encouraging.
“A lot has happened in the past few months, but with me and a few guys on the team, we’ve had Zoom calls on the issue at hand,” Cain said earlier this month. “We are all coming together, talking about it. I am educating you, I am educating you about everything that is happening. We all just want things to change, we want things to improve. “
Miami Marlins pitcher Stephen Tarpley agreed that it’s something the players are “actively talking about.” He said that within the Marlins “there are many good discussions, and many open minds and open hearts.”
He said the Marlins were still discussing ways to show support on the field.
“I don’t know if we are necessarily formulating something huge, but the little things will be what is important to keep this on track,” Tarpley said. “I don’t think there is necessarily anything big to do. Discussion is the first step. If we have everyone standing on that line and understand what the message is, that’s another step. “
Kapler knelt on Monday in the same field where former Athletics catcher Bruce Maxwell in 2017 became the first major player to kneel before the anthem. Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began kneeling in 2016 to protest racial inequality and police abuse by minorities.
Kaepernick and Maxwell were outliers during those days, when such actions were roundly criticized. But as baseball has shown over the past week, views have changed dramatically in 2020.
Arizona Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen and manager Torey Lovullo said they have had several team-level discussions about the ways he wants to support social justice. They also said the organizations were in talks with MLB about ways to show unity across the league.
Hazen said any show of support should not be a one-day event.
“Opening day will be another marker on that, but it will also continue to endure beyond that,” Hazen said. “The changes, in terms of highlighting systemic racism, injustice, equality, those problems will be here forever.
“We all have to do what we should do to end those things.”
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AP Sports writer Janie McCauley, Steven Wine, and Steve Megargee contributed to this story.
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