Three Major League Baseball games were postponed Wednesday night in response to the Jacob Blake shooting. The Los Angeles Dodgers’ contest against the San Francisco Giants was one of them.
And it all started with Mookie Betts.
The Dodgers outfielder made it clear prior to Wednesday’s game that he wouldn’t participate as a form of protest. And once players realized Betts wasn’t playing, the wheels started turning.
“More than anything as a teammate of Mookie’s, as a member of this team… as a white player on this team is how do we show support?” Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw said, via the Associated Press’ Janie McCauley. “What’s something tangible that we can do to help our black brothers on this team?”
Dodgers head coach Dave Roberts already planned on sitting out Wednesday’s game before Betts’ decision, per Kershaw. Roberts even got emotional while discussing the team’s decision to boycott Wednesday’s game.
“My cousin got shot and killed. My father was one of the first black men in his high school. It was just more of getting everyone together and sharing our thoughts,” he said, via McCauley. “… Collectively, ultimately we came to the consensus that we shouldn’t play today.”
Major League Baseball released a statement late Wednesday supporting teams’ decision to postpone games and their message behind it.
