Led by their manager, who began his career in the segregated South one 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 first-year 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 and knelt during a moment of silence honoring those who have died during the COVID-19 pandemic “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.
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.
“But these guys have stuck together remarkably well throughout the league, and I’ve got to commend the young people. We've still got a long way to go on some things and equal rights today and justice, OK, that is what we need. We’ve got a long way to go, but we’re on the way.”
Astros players union representative Lance McCullers, one of two players who spoke via Zoom video before the game, said players will support each other in whatever manner they choose to express their opinions on the subject of social justice and on demonstrations surrounding the topic.
“That is what a family does, and that is what we need more of,” McCullers said. “We need people being able to express themselves and people being open-minded and supportive during these hard, difficult times.
“All we can do is understand that we have a platform as a team, as a league, as people who are in the public eye, and all we can do is hope that by our actions that we can make a difference, even if it’s one person that sees and understands.”
He said players are 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.”
Astros players Kyle Tucker, Dustin Garneau, Chris Devenski, Josh Reddick and McCullers stood during at least a portion of the pregame that included the video and an additional moment of silence.
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.
The Astros also stenciled BLM, for Black Lives Matter, and the MLB logo on the back side of the pitcher's mound, following the pattern set in other ballparks this opening weekend.
Baker indicated 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 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.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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