The Milwaukee Brewers and Cincinnati Reds agreed to not play their game Wednesday night at Miller Park in protest of the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin.
And the Seattle Mariners will not play Wednesday night’s game against the host San Diego Padres after Mariners players agreed to postpone it. In addition, the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants won’t play their scheduled game in San Francisco.
“Given the pain in the communities of Wisconsin and beyond following the shooting of Jacob Blake, we respect the decisions of a number of players not to play tonight,” Major League Baseball said in a statement. “Major League Baseball remains united for change in our society and we will be allies in the fight to end racism and injustice.”
The Mariners have the most Black players of any team in MLB, and second baseman Dee Gordon shared his thoughts on the postponement on Twitter.
Instead of watching us, we hope people will focus on the things more important than sports that are happening.
– Dee Strange-Gordon
— Dee Gordon (@FlashGJr) August 26, 2020
The Brewers-Reds game was postponed after the Brewers met following the postponement earlier in the day of three NBA playoff games. Players from the Milwaukee Bucks refused to take the floor, in protest of the shooting.
“The players from the Brewers and Reds have decided to not play tonight’s baseball game,” players from both teams said in a shared statement. “With our community and our nation in such pain, we wanted to draw as much attention to the issues that really matter, especially racial injustice and systemic oppression.”
Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun said the Bucks’ decision inspired the Brewers to act.
“That motivated us. … At some point, actions speak louder than words,” Braun said in a video news conference. “Because this happened so close to home, it hits us differently than it does other teams.”
Braun said the team’s intention is to continue with the season as scheduled, but “this was our top priority today.”
Blake, a Black man, was shot at least seven times, apparently in the back, by police on Sunday in Kenosha, Wisconsin, as he attempted to enter the driver’s side door of his vehicle with three of his children inside. Video of the shooting was distributed on social media.
Brewers star reliever Josh Hader told reporters before the meeting that the Bucks’ decision was “an enormous stand,” MLB.com reported.
“It’s more than sports,” Hader said. “This is a time where we need to really not stay quiet and [to] empower our voices.”
A family attorney said Tuesday that Blake is paralyzed and it would “take a miracle” for him to walk again.