PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Major League Baseball players have the ability to be a voice for social change now in a way they couldn't years ago — an ability current and former Phillies acknowledge.
The panel of players spoke during a virtual event on Friday, organized by the African American Museum in Philadelphia for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Former Phillies outfielder and coach Milt Thompson remembered Rev. Jesse Jackson visited Black big-leaguers 30 years ago, advising them to go on strike to get more African-Americans in the front office.
"We were just looking at him saying, 'If we walk off this field, they're going to replace us and we're not coming back,' " Thompson said.
Times have changed, he noted, to the point where players can take a knee to support the Black Lives Matter movement. But maybe they haven't changed enough, said Phils outfielder Andrew McCutchen.
"It's almost a sense of this continuous circle that we keep going in," he said. "It's just a little later in the day. It's 2021 now. But the things that MLK went through, we still are going through things similar."
Last season's Opening Day began with a ceremony featuring players holding a continuous piece of black fabric, to show support for the Black Lives Matter movement. The ceremony was McCutchen's idea.
"So many people want to help. They don't necessarily know how," McCutchen said. "They don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, and also, it helps to have these — it opened up the table to just be able to have these discussions amongst each other to see, where do we go from here?"
Former Phils shortstop Jimmy Rollins said change can only come when governmental and civic leaders begin to understand the reasons for the summer of protests against police brutality.
At first, he said it was difficult to address the movement with people who are not Black.
"They were trying to get understanding and it's like, I'm mad," Rollins said. "I don't want to have to explain to you something that I've tried to explain to you over and over, and as a culture, we've tried to explain to you over and over and over, and now you see it finally."
The players agreed with the league's decision last month to include Negro League stats in official MLB records, saying it was an overdue step in the right direction. But more change is needed, and Rollins said the key is getting people in power to acknowledge that change is needed.
"Bring other people into the conversation," he continued, "because we can't solve it ourselves. You say, 'Protest peacefully.' We do that — we have dogs and hoses. Today we get tear gas and shock treatment and all that stuff. So we get angry. Now, we're looters and rioters. So how do you want us to do it?"
