Speaking Out for Justice

/ Baseball Rebecca / Leave a comment

A lot of emotions have been experienced and shared by people all over the world over the past few days: anger, rage, fear, anguish, frustration, sadness – profound sadness. Many of us are still at a loss for words, or just don’t know what to do to bring about justice, peace, and social change. Even if you don’t know what to do to help, keep praying, sharing, and teaching, and support those who can help the world change for the better.

 

 

 

 

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I am ANGRY. I am SAD. I am TIRED. Seeing a 5 year old yesterday wear a shirt say “please don’t shoot me” broke my soul in half. He shouldn’t have to wear that shirt. He shouldn’t have to be worrying about any of that. This is the world we live in!? I am BLACK. I have been racially profiled. I have been told “I can’t date you because my family doesn’t like blacks.” I have sat in hand cuffs because a cop felt threatened because he saw two black kids in a nice car. I have been told I am NOT black because I speak proper. I WILL not sit quiet knowing my platform. I WILL stand with the people who fight day in and day out to stop racism. I WILL have these difficult conversations with my WHITE BROTHERS. I WILL do everything in my power to explain and make them understand what it is to be BLACK in AMERICA. This has to stop. ENOUGH is ENOUGH. My brothers and sisters we HAVE to do better. STOP looking at the color in a man/woman and see him for who he/she is. This all starts with us. YES, the system is unjust but the system is also your brother that’s sitting next to you that can make that change for your children and generations to come. I encourage you all to go out there and stand with the people. March with them. Feel for them. We are hurting. WE ARE THE CHANGE.

A post shared by Touki Toussaint (@touki) on

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~ baseballrebecca

 

 

 

Best of the Week: 5/24/2020 – 5/30/2020

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It’s been a terrible week. I contemplated posting nothing this week – how could there be a “best” anything with COVID deaths reaching 100,000 in the U.S., MLB firing scores of minor leaguers, and the death of George Floyd? And while 2020 likely had its worst week yet, there was one tiny bit of news that kind of, sort of, wasn’t awful: although minor leaguers are being released and others may or may not get their measly pay from their parent clubs, Dodgers’ pitcher David Price will be giving $1,000 to each of the Dodgers minor leaguers.

I mean, it won’t pay the rent, but at least he’s paying them more than MLB is.

~ baseballrebecca

 

 

 

 

Stat-urday, 5/30/2020

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File:Stephen Strasburg on July 9, 2014.jpg

Stephen Strasburg, World Series MVP, pictured here in 2014. Photo by Keith Allison via Wikipedia.

Earlier this week the Washington Nationals revealed their World Series rings, and they include a lot of stats to commemorate the 2019 season:

  • 108 diamonds representing:
    • 105 regular season and post season wins
    • 2 cities in franchise history
    • 1 World Series championship
  • Additional diamonds included in player’s number
  • 32 sapphires representing:
    • 13 shut-out wins
    • 8-game winning streak (their longest)
    • 7 walk-off wins
    • 4 postseason rounds won
  • 30 rubies in the “Curly W” = for the 30 runs scored in the four World Series games they won
  • 12 rubies on each side for the total number of postseason wins
  • 5 stars representing 5 postseason elimination games won made up of:
    • 4 diamonds representing previous N.L. East division titles won
    • 1 ruby signifying the World Series Championship
  • 4 postseason opponents defeated
  • 4 Washington, DC, landmarks: the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the Jefferson Memorial, and the U.S. Capitol building
  • 2 phrases: “Go 1-0 every day” and “Fight Finished”
  • 1 Baby Shark

Happy Stat-urday!

~ baseballrebecca

 

 

 

 

Hyun Soo Kim in Bowie

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Since we’re nearing the end of Asian Pacific Heritage Month, let’s recall that time when my favorite Korean baseball player did a rehab stint with my favorite baseball team, the Bowie Baysox. In July 2016, he appeared in two games for the Baysox, going 2-for-7 with one home run (check out the abbreviated box scores below):

 

~ baseballrebecca

 

Bowie Baysox, July 24, 2016

Player Pos AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
Hyun Soo Kim DH 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
    a- Austin Wynns PH-DH 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.25
Garabez Rosa RF 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.32
Chance Sisco C 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.32
Quincy Latimore LF 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 0.22
Sharlon Schoop 2B 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.21
Chris O’Brien 1B 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0.21
Drew Dosch 3B 3 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0.24
Adrian Marin SS 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.25
Jay Gonzalez CF 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.17
Totals 30 2 6 1 0 0 2 4 11 0.26

a-Flied out for Kim in the 7th.

 

Bowie Baysox, July 25, 2016

Player Pos AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
Drew Dosch 3B 4 2 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0.244
Hyun Soo Kim LF 4 1 2 0 0 1 2 0 0 0.286
    Quincy Latimore LF 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.223
Garabez Rosa RF 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.321
Chance Sisco DH 5 2 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.322
Sharlon Schoop 2B 4 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.243
Joey Terdoslavich 1B 3 1 2 0 0 1 4 2 0 0.240
Chris O’Brien C 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0.208
Adrian Marin SS 5 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0.243
Jay Gonzalez CF 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0.133
Totals 37 9 11 1 0 3 9 6 4 0.264

 

Sports Humanitarians

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File:Nelson Cruz on May 19, 2015.jpg

Nelson Cruz with the Seattle Mariners in 2015. Photo by Keith Allison via Wikipedia.

Last week, ESPN announced the finalists for the 2020 Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award – and Nelson Cruz is one of them. The news release states, “Cruz has transformed the infrastructure of his hometown of Las Matas De Santa Cruz in the Dominican Republic. He has secured a fire engine and an ambulance, built a new police station and contributed wheelchairs and crutches, and he annually brings dentists and optometrists to a local clinic to provide checkups, medicine and eyewear.”

According to ESPN, the award, which is part of the ESPY awards, “is given to an athlete whose continuous, demonstrated leadership has created a measured positive impact on their community through sports. The candidate must embrace the core principals that Muhammad Ali embodied so well, including confidence, conviction, dedication, giving and respect. ” The website notes that the award was previously called the Sports Humanitarian of the Year Award; it was renamed in 2017 to honor Muhammad Ali. (Note that the Muhammad Ali Center has a separate award called the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award.) Previous MLB finalists have included Curtis Granderson (2017) and Yadier Molina (2019).

In addition to the Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award, ESPN awards the Sports Humanitarian Team of the Year Award. The Los Angeles Dodgers are again finalists for this award, as they were last year. They were nominated for the 2020 award because of the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation’s work to improve education, health care, homelessness, and social justice. The Dodgers have developed “Dodgers Reading Champions,” an online reading program, and the “Dodgers Dreamfields” program, which builds and refurbishes ball fields in underserved communities.

Other MLB teams that have been finalists for the Sports Humanitarian Team of the Year Award are the San Francisco Giants (2016), Chicago White Sox (2017), and Boston Red Sox (2018). The Giants won the award in 2016 for their work with the Junior Giants. The Giants created the Junior Giants in 1991 to help address violence in impoverished neighborhoods in the San Francisco area. The Giants Community Fund supports Junior Giants leagues in Northern California, Nevada, and Oregon, and provides assistance to community programs focused on education, health, and violence prevention.

These are just two of ESPN’s Sports Humanitarian Awards, which have been awarded since 2015. The 2020 ESPYS will be awarded on June 21.

~ baseballrebecca