Athletics Expect Oakland Fans `Will Have Our Backs' on Decision not to Play
Given time, the Oakland A’s decided against playing Thursday’s series finale against the Texas Rangers, the A’s way of being part of a national professional sports protest in the wake of the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis.
“The city that we play in has a long history of fighting for what is right,” veteran shortstop Marcus Semien said in a video conference call. “That’s what we are trying to do here, and I feel a lot of our fans will have our backs on this one.“
The Rangers, on the other hand, were willing to play, if the A’s wanted to. When the A’s weren’t, the Rangers issued a statement saying “we respect the decision Oakland A’s players.” The A’s actually weren’t all that keen on playing Wednesday’s game, but there wasn’t enough time to get everybody together and on board.
The A’s talked as a group after Wednesday’s game, a 3-1 win, and then again Thursday. According to de facto team captain Semien, there was no actual vote taken, just an overwhelming consensus that not playing was the way the players wanted to go.
“What do we want to do?” Semien said about what the meetings were focused on. “We’re seeing other sports teams, our peers, doing things to shine a light on what’s going on in our country. (Let’s) take the light off ourselves for a game and see if that can make an impact, because we have been trying all kinds of things, and were not seeing enough action.
“So, this is a good start. Today, we made that decision. We made that decision last night. Today we confirmed it. Everybody was on board.”
Second baseman Tony Kemp, who used the four months baseball was shuttered during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic to found his +1 Effect project, generating dialogue about race in America after the death of George Floyd was killed by members of the Minneapolis police force, said the decision made him proud of the organization.
“Honestly, it’s good to see the support from the team,” Kemp said. “These aren’t comfortable conversations that we’re having. This is a serious problem. And being able to have these uncomfortable conversations is where it starts.
“We just decided not to play, and that that’s going to be speak volumes. I don’t think our team knows the impact of who big it is right now, but down the line, when we get older, we’re going to understand that his impact was monumental. In the meeting, I told the guys it’s tough right now, but I want everybody to walk out of here with their heads held high and their chests out because we’re bringing awareness and we’re being activists right now, and it’s beautiful to see.”
The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader in Oakland Sept. 12.
On Wednesday night, the NBA, the WNBA and MLS all suspended play. In addition, three Major League games – Reds-Brewers, Padres-Mariners and Dodgers-Giants – were postponed as part of the backlash against the shooting of Blake, who took seven bullets in his back from a uniformed police officer. In addition, the video of a white teenager walking past police in Kenosha while carrying a rifle further raised ire.
In addition to the A’s-Rangers game, the Twins and Tigers, the Red Sox and Blue Jays and the Phillies and Nationals all had their games were postponed Thursday because one or both teams wanted to join the protest.
There was serious consideration given by the A’s to shut things down for the night Wednesday, but, Semien and manager Bob Melvin both said, time wasn’t an ally.
“It was about 6:30 Central Time in Arlington, and Mike Fiers was pitching for us, and he said `Hey, what are we going to do, guys?” Semien said. “As a group, we just felt there wasn’t enough time to make a decision and we went out there to play. For me, personally, my mind wasn’t in a great place.
“Great, we still won the game, but when the game ended, we had a deep conversation as a team on what do we want to do.”
Oakland as a franchise has been in the middle of racial protests. In 2017 catcher Bruce Maxwell became the first – and until this year the only – Major League player to take a knee during the national anthem.
A’s general manager David Forst made it clear that he sided with the players.
“I am hopeful that every action that our players and athletes across the country have taken is going to have the intended effect, and educate people and be a call to action,” Forst said. “I don’t think you can look at what’s happening and see something like that video and not be outraged.
“So, the way the players have handled themselves and gotten together, as an organization that’s exactly what you want is for your players to have a unified voice.”
The A’s as an organization have stepped up contributions to groups fighting for social justice. Every game at the Coliseum has the Black Lives Matter logo on the back of the pitching mound.
For Kemp, now is a time tor rise up.
“This is an historic time in sports history,” Kemp said. And to be a part of it and actually be able to not take the field tonight to show people that we actually care about what’s going on in the world. We play professional baseball and we’re here to entertain. But there’s a certain part of yourself that you can’t stay silent anymore.
“We have to take action. We have to do something about this. I just want to let people know that this is bigger than sports, period. So, yeah, I’m just proud to be a member of the Oakland A’s. It’s a true blessing.”
The A’s have found their way through social unrest and a pandemic that has claimed 180,000 American lives to forge a 22-10 record that is the best in the American League heading into Friday’s game in Houston, which is being celebrated this season as Jackie Robinson Day. That fact hasn’t been lost on Semien, Kemp and the A’s.
“A couple of us have been talking about donating our day’s pay on Jackie Robinson Day to a cause,” Semien said. “What that cause is, for me, I think it should be related to the integration of the police and the community in Oakland through mentorship programs.
“When I was growing up in Richmond, they had the Richmond PAL program, the Police Athletic League, where you have a police officer as the coach of a bunch of kids in the city. There are things like that that need to be revisited. We need to dig deeper and revisit them and hopefully the finds we can raise as a team will help.”
Normally Jackie Robinson Day is celebrated on April 15, but thanks to the pandemic it was moved this year to Aug. 28, which is the date Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey met with Robinson about becoming a Major Leaguer as well as the date in 1963 of the March on Washington led by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Robinson stood next to King in front of the Lincoln Memorial that day, greeting marchers.
Speaking for the Rangers in a video conference call, third base coach Tony Beasley said “We are supporting the A’s decision not to play.”
“The NBA decided to do what they did collectively, then some Major League teams followed suit as well,” Beasley said. “Yesterday happened fast, we heard after batting practice the A’s were having a discussion and so we had some conversations among ourselves. We expected to play yesterday and we were kind of in limbo. We played yesterday’s game and I showed up today expecting to play baseball. But we support the A’s decision.”
Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3
Click the "follow" button in the top right corner to join the conversation on Inside the Athletics on SI. Access and comment on featured stories and start your own conversations and post external links on our community page.