Marlins and Mets walk off field in protest following 42-second moment of silence
The Miami Marlins and New York Mets will not play Thursday as part of the widespread protests following the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin.
The Mets and Marlins briefly took the field, then, just after Lewis Brinson stepped into the batter’s box, both teams stepped out of their dugouts and stood in unison for a 42-second moment of silence. Brinson placed a “Black Lives Matter” T-shirt on home plate and then the two teams walked back to their clubhouses.
Friday is being recognized as Jackie Robinson Day across the league, honoring the player who broke MLB’s color barrier. Robinson wore 42 for his entire career.
Miami and New York did not participate in any sort of strike Wednesday, even as half a dozen other teams agreed to postpone games.
On Wednesday, the Milwaukee Bucks sparked a movement, which has now spanned across sports following the shooting of Blake, who is Black.
About an hour before they were scheduled to play an NBA playoff game against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday, the Bucks went on strike and refused to take the court for Game 5 of their first-round series.
The NBA and National Basketball Players Association jointly decided to postpone all games Wednesday, and Thursday. Following the NBA’s lead, the Women’s National Basketball Association postponed all games Wednesday and Thursday, most Major League Soccer teams opted not to play Wednesday, the NHL postponed its Stanley Cup playoff games Thursday and several Major League teams agreed to postpone games.
Mets slugger Dominic Smith did kneel as “The Star-Spangled Banner” played Wednesday in New York, though, and gave a passionate, emotional answer when asked about it after the Mets’ 5-4 win against Miami.
“I think the most difficult part is to see people still don’t care,” said Smith, who is Black. “For this to just continuously happen, it just shows the hate in people’s heart. That just sucks, you know? Black men in America, it’s not easy. Like I said, I just wasn’t there today, but I’ll bounce back. I’ll be fine.”
A day after Smith kneeled, New York decided it did not want to play Thursday, but commissioner Rob Manfred tried to push for the game to be played. This according to a video of Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen that was inadvertently uploaded to MLB.com and then circulated on Twitter a little more than an hour before first pitch was scheduled.
In the video, Van Wagenen tells someone off camera Manfred was trying to find an alternate solution to an outright strike.
Manfred’s solution, Van Wagenen said, was for both teams to take the field as scheduled, walk off and then return an hour later.
Thursday was supposed to be the final time the Marlins played New York this season. Finding a day to reschedule the game is a concern for the league, especially after a game between the two last Thursday had to be rescheduled following positive COVID-19 tests within the Mets.
“Baseball’s trying to come up with a solution. ‘Oh you know what would be super powerful?’” Van Wagenen said. “‘It would be really great if we could just have them all take the field and then they leave the field, and then they come back and then they play at 8:10.’ I was like ‘What?’
“That’s Rob’s instinct and Rob, at a leadership level, doesn’t get it. He just doesn’t get it.”
This story was originally published August 27, 2020 at 7:29 PM.
