The Bulls, Bears, Blackhawks, and about ten MLB teams that I’ve seen so far have issued statements about the ongoing demonstrations, about racial injustice, and (in the best cases) about the things they can and are doing to support their community.
The demonstrations peacefully reached the Cubs’ doorstep last night at Wrigley Field
Moment of silence #chicagoprotest pic.twitter.com/Iv8mP4y9e4
— Stevie Castillo (@GoWithStevie) June 2, 2020
I reached out to the Cubs for any comment, and I have not heard back. The team’s sports network did just send out this video, though:
https://twitter.com/WatchMarquee/status/1267810357952811010
UPDATE: Shortly after publishing, the Cubs issued this statement:
A statement from the Chicago Cubs. pic.twitter.com/11FWFWR1bE
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) June 2, 2020
The Cubs pledge action. It will be fair to ask – and verify – what action is going to be taken.
At the top of baseball, this is what was circulated yesterday, internally at MLB:
Here’s the memo Rob Manfred sent out internally to MLB employees: pic.twitter.com/oKoGyy5SEU
— Hannah Keyser (@HannahRKeyser) June 2, 2020
Jason Heyward was on ESPN1000 yesterday with Waddle & Silvy, and I strongly encourage you to listen to him. And, as he underscores, it’s important that you listen to others’ concerns about racial injustice, too, and share the message where you can. This is real. This is serious. And it might not look like what you thought.
“When you have hatred, when you have anger, when you have people that dealt with this 40 years ago, when you have people that dealt with this 20 years ago, people that dealt with it 10 years ago, people for the first time dealing with it now, you got people at all different walks of life who have, to me, different emotions about it and different thoughts on how to handle it …. Everyone’s not gonna have the same opinion. Everyone’s not gonna agree. But having the conversations, putting it out there and being aware of how we’re all thinking as different individuals is a huge step in the right direction.”
Meanwhile …
•  Two additional Cubs names listed, Albert Mineo and Conor Lillis-White:
We learned the names of 135 more MiLB releases today. Here's a link to our post on them.https://t.co/Yf6w7lCuhx
— JJ Cooper (@jjcoop36) June 1, 2020
•  Recognize Lillis-White? He’s the minor league pitcher the Cubs received from the Angels for Tommy La Stella. He got hurt and never threw a pitch in the Cubs organization.
•  Not only is this a good thing to do as a human for the people in the baseball world who need it the most, it’s also going to prove a heckuva good public relations pitch for future clients:
Scott Boras has committed to paying all his released minor leaguers their expected salaries for the year. Boras said their releases were “completely unanticipated” and he wanted to be sure they are paid what they expected to receive.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) June 2, 2020
•  I know, I know … but I can’t help it. I cannot help dreaming on Dillon Maples. I’ll never stop:
A 35% strikeout rate, but a nearly 20% walk rate.
A slightly modified Dillon Maples can lead to him being a key bullpen piece. https://t.co/dSbcmYWrKo | @Wintrust pic.twitter.com/EJGZoaaiqp
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) June 1, 2020
•  Let’s play some:
Ernie Banks would probably say "Let's play 2, or 114 or 50 or 81, but let's just play." Mr. Cub is the #Cubs leader in games played (2528) and extra base hits (1009). Here's the @sabr bio of the 2X NL MVP & HoFer https://t.co/Kwk9GMbPR4 pic.twitter.com/oeLOHBEfM1
— SABR BioProject (@SABRbioproject) June 2, 2020
•  Yard products, kitchen products, and TVs are among the Deals of the Day at Amazon today. #ad
•  Ending these with a smile:
Thought maybe you could use this. pic.twitter.com/JWsemfBuDL
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) June 1, 2020