Yankees engage in 'powerful conversation'

NEW YORK -- It was described as a “powerful conversation,” one that ran long within the walls of the clubhouse, though no one was looking at the clock. As the nation confronts the uncomfortable truths of racial inequality and injustice, there was no better time or place for the Yankees to speak their minds.

Giancarlo Stanton described his experiences growing up in Los Angeles, frequently passing the Foothill Freeway exit where motorist Rodney King was once beaten by police officers. Marcus Thames spoke about his 11-year-old son, Marcus Jr., who watched the video of a police officer shooting Jacob Blake and tearfully asked why this continues to happen.

There are no easy answers, but as the Black Lives Matter movement intersects with Major League Baseball’s celebration of Jackie Robinson Day, Stanton and Thames believe that it is an important opportunity for their messages to be heard.

• A generation of Black players finds its voice

“We're in the big leagues and everyone thinks that we're robots and all is fine and dandy,” Stanton said. “We know the road that it took to get here. It's not the time to just shut up and swing, shut up and dribble. This is time to take reality for what it is and start helping to make a damn change.”

Seven Major League games were postponed on Thursday as players protested the Blake shooting in Kenosha, Wisc. The most poignant moment took place across town at Citi Field, where the Mets and Marlins observed a 42-second moment of silence before leaving the diamond, as the Marlins’ Lewis Brinson covered home plate with a Black Lives Matter T-shirt.

The Yankees did not discuss the possibility of postponing Friday’s doubleheader against the Mets, according to manager Aaron Boone, but emotions were fraught. Boone himself had to leave the podium during his pregame news conference, sobbing after being asked about the recent events and how they have affected his family. The Boones have two adopted sons who are Black.

“It's been a hard and heavy year,” Boone said. “A heartbreaking year in so many ways, and for my family, too. I think that's the case for a lot of people of all different backgrounds and races. My prayer is just that even though we're going through some dark times, that at the end of this, we're better for it.”

Boone, Aaron Hicks, Aaron Judge and Stanton are among a group of more than 100 players, coaches and managers who are donating their salaries from games on Thursday and Friday to The Players Alliance, a group formed to combat racial inequality and aid Black families and communities affected by recent events.

Stanton said that he wants teammates to continue asking tough questions and educating themselves, which is what made Friday’s pregame meeting significant.

“I've heard a lot of people say, ‘I don't want to watch those videos,’” Stanton said. “I don't want to watch people getting shot or George Floyd [being knelt on] for over eight minutes. But you do need to watch that. You do need to watch every second of it and hop into their shoes for a second. Try to understand, once you walk outside, that's the reality of what you’ve got to deal with, every single day.”

Thames said that he felt a responsibility to speak after two Yankees Minor League players, Chris Gittens and Canaan Smith, pushed the team to make a statement about the Blake shooting.

“It's been a tough time. It's been a tough week,” Thames said. “It's a really hard time for everybody, what's going on in the world. I want to be here for certain people, especially some of our younger Minor League players who are asking for us to say something, to let them know that we're behind them. … It's hard and it hurts. We're tired. We just want to be heard. We don't want money. We just want ears.”

Stanton protested racial inequality by kneeling during the national anthem earlier this season. He spoke of the experiences that his mother and grandmother relayed over the years, and Stanton said that he believes it is “unacceptable” for those echoes to be continuing decades later.

“You see it time and time again, and you wonder, 'When is it going to stop?'” Stanton said. “'When are people finally going to listen? When are you going to understand that you can help, no matter what color you are?' It's not political. It's not anything but reality.”