Posted on 07/20/2020 10:53:45 AM PDT by Enlightened1
Major League Baseball and players have been in conversation about how to incorporate social justice elements into the sport, according to league and player sources, with the most recent conversation scheduled for Sunday.
It's unclear what form the elements will take, whether it be some kind of logo placed on uniforms or something shared and fronted by players.
Since the killing of George Floyd on May 25, many of the sport's players and teams have joined the national conversation about social justice. Andrew McCutchen, the Philadelphia Phillies' veteran, was among athletes and coaches who shared a byline and thoughts in a USA Today editorial in early June.
Los Angeles Dodgers players recently held a Zoom call led by Clayton Kershaw to talk about racial injustice, and their discussion resulted in a video released last week in support of Black Lives Matter.
Baseball mostly did not participate in the social justice conversation in sports after NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick began to kneel during the national anthem in 2016. Bruce Maxwell, a catcher with the Oakland Athletics, kneeled during the anthem in 2017, but he has since said that he felt unsupported by peers and by those in the sport.
Baseball has rarely tackled issues of racial inequality with industry-wide uniformity. Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier in 1947 when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers, but a full 12 years would pass before the Boston Red Sox became the last team to sign its first Black player, Pumpsie Green.
At the 1972 World Series, Robinson called for the hiring of the first Black manager in the major leagues, something that didn't happen until 1975 when Frank Robinson took over the Cleveland Indians.
Hi.
I have an idea. Shut up and play ball!
5.56mm
Baseball had a real chance to become the #1 sport again with football self-destructing. Looks like they are going to blow it. I was down to Baseball and Hockey. Might just have to give it all up.
Say it ain’t so, Comrade.
That’s what I say. JUST PLAY THE GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The first BLM or Social Justice logo will terminate my 70+ years of baseball fandom.
Well, bye to MLB, too.
What pro sport is even left?
:-(
Each player should take a knee... To the groin upon hitting a homerun.
Professional sports suck! I’m fed-up with all this anti-American BS. No watcheeee for meeee.
Naïve rubes.
Like so many.
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