Numerous current and former Major League players -- including Giancarlo Stanton, Andrew McCutchen and CC Sabathia, among others -- collaborated on a video that many players tweeted out on Monday in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
In the powerful, 55-second clip, each player took turns reading lines to complete the message, which said in part: "You have cheered for us, but we need you to cheer with us now, when we need you most."
“We’ve been told that our peaceful pleas were not made at the right time, in the right place, in the right way. We’ve been told to wait,” the players said, each taking a line. “But we remember when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. warned us that the word wait has almost always meant never. We will wait no longer. We will make our voices louder. For all of us who can, and for all of those who could not.”
“Eight minutes and 46 seconds is enough time to lift a knee,” Stanton said, in reference to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which sparked nationwide protests.
The players then collectively repeated, "Black Lives Matter," before finishing with: "It's our cheer for change. It's your cheer for us. It's these cheers that will unite us. One team, one dream. Be the change."