NBA, MLB TEAMS DON’T PLAY IN PROTEST:
Unprecedented protest cancels NBA playoff tilts Remainder of postseason in jeopardy 3 MLB games also called off in historic boycott
Led by the Bucks, NBA players expressed their frustration and anger after a black man was shot seven times in the back by cops in Kenosha, Wis.
ATLANTA — The historic action that shut down the NBA on Wednesday rippled to Major League Baseball, which postponed three games as professional athletes took a giant leap to display their pleas for racial justice in the United States
The Milwaukee Brewers, the team located closest to the latest controversial police shooting, followed the lead of their NBA siblings the Bucks as they procured agreement with their opponents, the Cincinnati Reds, to not play their game Wednesday night at Miller Park. The Mariners and Padres, set to play at PETCO Park, followed suit by striking, as did the Dodgers and Giants at Oracle Park, and a couple of individual players also sat out to support the cause.
Pitcher Brent Suter, the Brewers’ player representative, told reporters the postponement was “a collective Reds/Brewers decision not to play tonight to focus on our community hurting and the issues that are bigger than baseball.”
On Sunday in Kenosha, Wis. (about a 45-minute drive from Milwaukee), a police officer shot African-American man, Jacob Blake, multiple times in the back as he walked to his car. Blake’s family attorney has said the 29year-old man is now paralyzed from the waist down. The incident, coming just under three months after a Minneapolis police officer’s alleged murder of an unarmed African-American man named George Floyd ignited the country, set off another round of protests and violence in the area.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Bucks refused to take the court in a playoff game against the Orlando Magic, and the NBA ultimately postponed all three of its playoff contests in its Disney World bubble. The Brewers and their baseball brethren picked up that baton and ran with it.
“There are serious issues in this country,” Mariners veteran Dee Gordon tweeted. “For me, and for many of my teammates, the injustices, violence, death and systemic racism is deeply personal. This is impacting not only my community, but very directly my family and friends. Our team voted unanimously not to play tonight.”
Brewers manager Craig Counsell said his team was likely to resume play Thursday, and the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that the Mariners and Padres were likely to play a doubleheader on Thursday to make up Wednesday’s postponement. As for the Dodgers and Giants, Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw said that his club would allow Mookie Betts to guide the club as he saw fit.
Though the Cubs played their game against the Tigers, their respected veteran Jason Heyward was a “healthy scratch,” according to manager David Ross. And Rockies veteran Matt Kemp announced his intention to sit out his club’s contest against the Diamondbacks.
“Tonight I stand with my fellow professional athletes in protest of the injustices my people continue to suffer,” Kemp wrote on Instagram. “I could not play this game I love so much tonight knowing the hurt and anguish my people continue to feel. In a world where we are the ones who need to remain calm while a trained professional points a gun in our face; a world where the people in uniforms who took an oath to protect us are the same ones killing us; a world where we become hashtags before we even reach our potential; we must stand together, speak out, protest, and be the change we demand, require, and need so bad.”
MLB supported its players in a statement: “Given the pain in the communities of Wisconsin and beyond following the shooting of Jacob Blake, we respect the decisions of a number of players not to play tonight. Major League Baseball remains united for change in our society and we will be allies in the fight to end racism and injustice.”
Players union head Tony Clark also released a statement: “At this critical time, Players have been deeply affected by the recent events in Wisconsin and by similar events in other parts of the country. We are proud of the stand that our Players have taken, and we remain committed to supporting their efforts to effect change in MLB communities and beyond.”