While Major League Baseball and the Players Association bicker over a return-to-play plan, its players are calling attention to more pressing matters.
Boston Red Sox center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. teamed up with several prominent Black MLB players Monday night to make a powerful statement via social media urging fans to support them and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Two of Bradley's former teammates -- Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts and pitcher David Price -- also starred in the video, along with New York Yankees teammates Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and CC Sabathia, former Baltimore Orioles outfielder Adam Jones and many others.
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"8 minutes and 46 seconds is enough time to lift a knee," Stanton says in the video, referencing the amount of time Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on the neck of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, before killing him.
Floyd's death, along with the recent deaths of several other Black men and women at the hands of police officers, have sparked protests across the country. NFL players recently joined forces to produce a similar video calling for the NFL to listen to its players as they protest to end racial injustice and police brutality.
There were only 68 Black players on MLB Opening Day rosters last year -- 7.7 of the league's population, per USA TODAY Sports -- and Bradley is the Red Sox' lone Black player after the departures of Betts and Price. But that contingent is making its voice heard, and it's up to the fans to listen.