ST. LOUIS — Baseball is in the process of returning under the cloud of COVID-19, and the Cardinals, like all teams, are figuring out how to weather the storm.
While the return of America's past time will give much of the country a distraction from the pandemic, Cardinals ace Jack Flaherty wants to make something clear. The return of sports isn't a distraction from the other things that have been happening in America.
"This isn't a time for sports to become a distraction. It's not a time to forget about everything that just went on," Flaherty said during his first Cardinals Zoom call on Wednesday. "The protests that went on and the changes that have been made already. So it's about trying to use sports and keep the conversation going."
After the caught-on-camera death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minnesota earlier this year, demonstrations, protests and social media movements against racial injustice took the country by storm.
Flaherty has been just one of many professional athletes around the country who has been vocal on social media against racial injustice.
"It's just something that struck a nerve. And it just felt like, we have this platform, we have this opportunity to speak up, this opportunity to talk and do anything we can to make change and it's just an issue that's gone on for far too long. And it just really hit a nerve," Flaherty said. "You see kind of everybody come together and forcing a call to action, and it's great to see everybody come together."
In recent days there has also been a renewed look at former Oakland A's catcher Bruce Maxwell, who was the only player in the Majors to kneel during the National Anthem in protest back in 2017. Maxwell is no longer in the Major Leagues.
Flaherty has some thoughts on that, too, and if players this year might decide to kneel for the Anthem.
"Nobody really had Bruce's back back then. It's something where guys were unsure about how to come together and how to really do it the right way... All props to Bruce for what he did and standing up for what was right. And it's a special thing that he did and it's been really unfortunate for how it's turned out," Flaherty said. "But is there a possibility that there will be baseball players who don't stand for the Anthem? I would say absolutely. We kind of wish we had been there for Bruce and had his back and come together back then the way we are now."
Flaherty said he's had "man-on-man" conversations with some of his teammates about everything that has happened over the past few months and has kept trying to learn more and more.
As for players having more a voice right now, Flaherty said the decision to speak out is an easy one.
"It's not a political thing, it's literally a human rights thing. So if that is something that is looked down upon, if it's looked down upon to advocate for human rights in that way, then I don't really understand that," Flaherty said.
When it came to deciding whether to play at all this season or possibly sit out to bring more attention to the cause, Flaherty says there are two ways to look at things.
"To say it (sitting out) didn't cross my mind... it did. But I think there's two ways to go about it. You can be in the sport and be in the game and play the game and continue to grow and use the platform while playing to advocate for these things," Flaherty said.
One point Flaherty wanted to emphasize was the lack of Black players in baseball, and how he hopes to help grow that number.
"It's a very small portion of baseball players that are African American, that are Black. And trying to raise that percentage and get more participation and get more kids to play the sport... it starts with those guys coming together within baseball, helping to grow it and getting out into the community and making it more accessible for kids to play the game," Flaherty said.
As for the upcoming baseball season, the uber-competitive ace is ready to get back to work.
COVID-19 has certainly made things different this year, but Flaherty and the Cardinals are rolling with the punches and just trying to navigate all of the guidelines in place.
"When you read it the first time it was like, 'OK this is a lot'. But then you get in and you understand all the protocols and everything they're trying to do from a health side," Flaherty said. "Obviously this past weekend was a disaster for everybody. With the testing. You've got multiple teams having to cancel days because test results weren't coming back. So that's something that needs to be cleaned up going forward. At this point, every day matters. You only have so many days to get ready for the season."
Right now, Flaherty said he's getting up to around three or four innings and 60 pitches. He also said the Cardinals should be used to the pressure of this shortened season because they played games that counted like this throughout the end of the 2019 season.
"It's a sprint to the finish line. It's always been how the season's a marathon. It's long and drawn out. But it literally is, like every game matters," Flaherty said. "Every game we've played since last August has been this way. It's just going to kind of continue for us. And nothing about it changes. Every game is going to matter and every game is going to be just as important as the next one."
Flaherty is expected to be the team's opening day starter on opening day, Jul. 24 against the Pirates.
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