HOUSTON (SportsRadio 610)- At 7:47, just 23 minutes before he was supposed to throw the first pitch of Friday's Astros game against the Oakland Athletics, Lance McCullers Jr emerged from the clubhouse, wearing an orange glove and an orange jersey with number 42 on the back and started to walk out to the Astros bullpen.
Moments later his catcher, Martin Maldonado followed him. The two sat next to each other on a bench only to rise as a virtual national anthem played on the Minute Maid Park video board. When that ended, both players walked back to the Astros dugout. They would come out on the field less than 10 minutes later, but they had already decided Friday's game would not be played.
"We had a little meeting amongst ourselves to get a feel for what everybody wanted to do and ultimately after discussion with everybody, we made the decision to do what we did today," Astros outfielder Josh Reddick said.
The Astros took the field when they normally would for an 8:10 game, but when they did, the remaining players and coaches from the Astros dugout along with everyone in the A's dugout stepped outside to observe a moment of silence. When that ended, Maldonado placed a #42 Astros jersey in the left-handed hitter's batter's box, while A's leadoff hitter Marcus Semien placed his team's number 42 jersey in the other and then covered home plate with a Black Lives Matter shirt. Both teams walked off the field and an Astros PR staffer announced the game was postponed.
"We felt like this message was bigger than missing another game," Reddick said. "To show support for our brothers not only on our team, but across the league as well, to let them know that we have their backs everyday, no matter what goes on, and I think that ultimately was our decision to make this happen."
Reddick said he spoke A's infielder Tony Kemp and manager Bob Melvin to let them know what was going to happen. Oakland didn't play its game on Thursday in Arlington for the same reason.
"They were on board from the get-go," Reddick said. "That's really good to see when a team like that can come into your home ballpark and really support you in your decision because they know how important something like this is."
Sitting next to Reddick was Michael Brantley, one of four Black players currently on the Astros roster. He was part of the group that told Dusty Baker tonight's game wouldn't be played.
"Just a simple fact that we're having this conversation right now means a lot," Brantley said. "We had a team meeting, we discussed a lot of different topics, and it's great to have this conversation, but at the same time, we're trying to make change. We have the highest platform to do that. We did it together as a group and I think that's special. We want to be there for rest of the brothers in this league. This is a brotherhood this is Major League Baseball and that's what we're about. We're unit."
The last time the Astros and A's shared the field the benches cleared and punches were thrown. The benches cleared again on Friday, but they did so in solidarity for a movement much bigger than the game that was supposed to be played.
