Team buoys Kemp’s antiracism efforts
The A’s are still getting to know Tony Kemp, especially after an abbreviated spring training, so the secondbase candidate said Monday he’s surprised how much interest his antiracism campaign has drawn from his new teammates. In the wake of George
Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police, Kemp began the +1 Effect initiative on social media, interacting with members of the public about topics surrounding race in America, and he’s already engaged in numerous polite discussions with people from different backgrounds and political views.
Shortly after he started the social media effort, Kemp said, he heard from A’s manager
Bob Melvin. “That guy is amazing to talk to, and he understands the stance,” Kemp said on a video call with reporters. “He actually sent me a text in the midst of the campaign: ‘It’s great to see what you’re doing, I can’t wait to get you on the field soon.’ ”
“I wanted to let a player who hasn’t been here know I absolutely support what he’s doing and I’m glad he’s doing it,” Melvin said. “Sometimes when you’re on a new team, you’re reluctant to get out in the forefront, so I wanted to let him know I was proud of him for doing it and support every
thing he does.”
Then Kemp got to training camp at the Coliseum and found that teammates such as Marcus Semien, Matt Olson, Jake Diekman, Liam Hendriks and assistant hitting coach Eric Martins already had purchased Tshirts to back his campaign.
“What’s been cool is I’ve only played a couple of games with these guys in spring training and it’s cool to see they bought the shirts on their own supporting the cause. That’s a big deal,” he said. “I’ve only been on this team a couple of months. It means a lot, it means they’ve got your back.”
Kemp said that many of the African American players in the majors will be rallying around antiracism efforts during team openers by wearing a black cloth or perhaps holding a black hat over their hearts; some might kneel during the anthem.
“I plan to be a part of it,” Kemp said, without specifying what he’ll be doing. “It’s one thing to talk about what you’re going to do, but without action, it doesn’t mean anything.”
Exhibition games: The A’s and Giants will play two exhibition games next week, one in each stadium and with no fans in attendance, as they prepare for their season openers later in the week.
The teams will meet at the Coliseum at 6:40 p.m. Monday and at Oracle Park at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday. The first game will air on both NBC Sports California and NBC Sports Bay Area. The second will air only on NBC Sports Bay Area. The A’s will provide audio broadcasts on the TuneIn streaming app.
The A’s have not announced their rotation, but Chris Bassitt, who is likely to swing between long relief and spot starts this season, is a good bet to start one of the exhibition games.
Oakland opens the season July 24 at home against the Angels. The Giants open against the Dodgers in Los Angeles on July 23.