WASHINGTON — Thursday night, following the raising of their new championship flag and a ceremonial first pitch by Dr Anthony Fauci, our Washington Nationals take the field to kick off another season of the national pastime.
Major League Baseball is the first of the big-time sports leagues to start a new campaign. Coming in the middle of a pandemic and nationwide calls for societal change, this year is promising to be unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Between the two, dealing with the virus seems easy. Games are to be played in empty stadiums. Players wearing masks and throwing elbow bumps. It’s not hard to socially distance out in center field. But for MLB, it has been hard to confront the systemic issues that dog them, and this nation.
In 2017, former Oakland A’s catcher Bruce Maxwell took a knee in protest of racial and social injustice. He was the only player in MLB to do so, and he got no support for it. Subsequently exiting the league, he now plays in Mexico. Imagine how surprised and pleased he must have been to see Giants manager Gabe Kapler, and some of his players take a knee during the anthem in the same stadium that he did.
Kapler is the first coach in American sport to kneel in solidarity. When asked why, he said he welcomed the opportunity to elevate the voices of the unheard and he accepted the responsibility. He said this even as those in positions of power are still railing on Twitter against the action.
This season is scheduled for just 60 games. But that’s 60 opportunities for MLB to help take our collective minds off the medical crisis we are dealing with, while at the same time try to help push this country into being a more just place for all.
It might seem like a tough situation to be in, but they’ve been here before. Jackie Robinson was the lead-off hitter. He showed us that MLB is not that far away from BLM.
I had my doubts that this season was even going to happen, or that everything would come together. But here we are, and baseball once again has a chance to lead the way. And I’m going to watch my Nationals get us started.