Opponents unite for justice
Astros and Mariners join before game to participate in ‘emotional’ leaguewide protest
Led by their manager, who began his career in the segregated South a year before the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., the Astros joined the Seattle Mariners in beginning the delayed 2020 baseball season Friday night with a call for social justice and equality.
Dusty Baker, the firstyear Astros manager who has spent a half-century in a game that wasn’t open to Black athletes until 1947, two years before he was born, was among players and coaches from both teams at Minute Maid Park who held a black cloth to symbolize unity on behalf of a sport that values teamwork as a principal virtue.
“Nobody knew what to expect, but the cause was great,” Baker said after the game. “It was different, but this is what we needed and what we feel the country needed.
“It was emotional, but we knew that in a few minutes we also were going to play a ballgame.”
The Mariners and most of the Astros players lined up along both foul lines of the empty stadium, then knelt during a moment of silence honoring those who have died during the COVID-19 epidemic “along with the lives lost to racial injustice,” in the words of stadium announcer Bob Ford.
Most remained kneeling during a Black Lives Matter message featuring comments from several Black players and sponsored by The Players Alliance, and during narration by actor Morgan Freeman that concluded, “Equality is not just a word, it’s our right. Today we stand as men from 25 nations on six continents. Today,
we are one.”
All rose to their feet for the National Anthem, recorded by Lyle Lovett and projected on the ballpark video screen. Several Mariners players, including Shed Long Jr., J.P. Crawford and Mallex Smith, raised their fists during the anthem, but none of the Astros did so.
Astros outfielder Michael Brantley and pitcher Justin Verlander said they were encouraged by the pregame demonstration, and Brantley said society would do well to reflect the virtues of baseball.
“In the locker room we’re really diverse, and we’re like a family. It should be like that everywhere,” Brantley said.
“We’ve got to keep it going, though. We need to make sure we keep having the conversation and look forward to making change a little better each day and being a good human, being a good teammate and being good people.”
Verlander said the team met before the game and decided that players would have the option to express themselves as they chose.
“I’m proud of all of our guys individually, all of them, and hopefully this makes a difference,” he said.
“When I look in the mirror, given my platform, it’s not OK, it’s not good enough to say, OK, I’m not racist. That’s not enough. There needs to be a change in our culture, and bringing attention to it in the way that we did is a good way to do it.”
Baker, one of two Black managers in the major leagues, said before Friday’s game that he was proud of players for taking a unified stand on behalf of social justice but acknowledged there could be differences of opinion on how such a stance could or should be expressed.
“I’m proud of the young people. They’ve stuck together,” Baker said. “Quite frankly, I was a bit surprised, because if you expect everybody to think and feel the same way, then were living in a dream world.”
Astros players Kyle Tucker, Dustin Garneau, Chris Devenski, Josh Reddick and Lance McCullers stood during at least a portion of the pregame that included the video and an additional moment of silence.
McCullers said before the game that players were demonstrating “for the betterment of America. This is not a political stand. It is nothing else, nothing more than a call for equality and a call for justice and us standing together as one league.”
The pregame ceremony, with the black cloth and the video, followed the pattern set during Thursday’s initial games in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. The New York Times reported that the idea for the black cloth was promoted by Phillies outfielder Andrew McCutchen and organized by players without the involvement of Major League Baseball.
Baker, however, indicated that he had contributed to the conversations about how to commemorate the social justice issue before the openers.
“I talked to some of the players on those teams and talked to the commissioner,” he said. “I had some of those guys (while managing other teams) and so, you know, not to say necessarily it was my idea, but it was my idea to do that here, which I shared with others elsewhere.”
Elsewhere Friday, the Indians wore their blue road jerseys with “Cleveland” on the front during their home opener as a unified statement of solidarity for minorities as the team contemplates a name change.
Owner Paul Dolan recently announced the franchise is considering changing its name from the Indians, which has been the club’s moniker since 1915. Typically, the team wears white jerseys with “Indians” across the chest at home.
All-Star shortstop Francisco Lindor said the players decided on the switch after meeting earlier this week with Dolan to discuss the potential name change as well as race relations and social justice.
Lindor said the move was not motivated by politics. He said it was meant to be an acknowledgment to all minorities.
“We know change is due and it is time,” Lindor said. “But I believe positive change can happen. Shining the light on those minorities and people who are in need, it’s extremely important.”