Mookie Betts made his first appearance at a press conference with the Dodgers during the second rendition of Spring Training today. Among other things, Mookie discussed the Black Lives Matter movement across baseball and around the world. In his mind, MLB fell short.
Betts talked about the his potential free agency and David Price’s opt-out as well, but it was his statement on baseball that grabbed everyone’s attention. The Dodgers’ star did not seem very impressed with the way baseball chose to handle speaking out during this time of racial injustice and social change
Yeah, I think baseball did not do a good job with that. But I think voices were heard and I think that’s the main thing is that we get our voices heard to make some changes. I know it’s not all gonna be at one time, but a little change here, a little change there and eventually we’ll get to where we need to be.
Baseball certainly gave players a chance to have their voices heard, but there was not much done beyond that. Donations will always be made, but it did seem as though there were not many efforts to do much more. The Dodgers also haven’t said or done much, but there have been small changes. Betts talked about what he needed to do personally, and what he felt baseball could do in general.
Obviously it’s more of a personal thing that I have to bring baseball into the black communities. Obviously MLB can help but I think it’s on us, us as in the black players, to bing it to black communities. And kind of make baseball cool, because I think that’s where the disconnect is.
You can check out the whole interview here, where Mookie talks about coming to the Dodgers and the possibility of a free-agent deal on the horizon.
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