ST. LOUIS — With teams around baseball coming together against racial injustice, the Cardinals have been preaching one word. Unity.
On opening day against the Pirates, the team all wore "Black Lives Matter" shirts during the pregame and joined with the Pirates in holding a black cloth to stand together against racial injustice. The team opted not to kneel during the national anthem.
Ever-thoughtful Cardinals veteran Adam Wainwright talked to the media ahead of Friday night's game and had a lot to say about why he is supporting his teammates.
"It's very simple to me. I'll tell you this as a Christian man, my job first and foremost is to love my neighbor, and to love my teammates, and to love my friends and family in the best way I know how," Wainwright said.
"So we had a big team meeting the other day and Dexter and Willie and Jack spoke and just going over some things they had felt their entire lives. And they looked at us and said 'It would really mean a lot to us if you all would join us in this movement.' You don't have to tell me anything else besides that. When my teammate looks at me and says he's in need and he needs me to stand up for him, that's great."
Wainwright and the Cardinals as an organization have received loud feedback from some online who are upset the team decided to promote parts of the movement. Wainwright has an answer to that, too.
"People read into that a lot but I can tell you what that shirt meant to me was not having to do with anything outside of what's inside this clubhouse and what's inside us as human beings. That had everything to do with supporting my black brothers and sisters around the country, my teammates and close friends and my son," Wainwright said.
"You can go on my Twitter feed and see how I answered. The different things people came at me with... I'm getting 'fake Christian' this and that kind of stuff, and this has nothing to do with that for me. Besides, that's the way I try to live my life every day... This is a grander thing that we're going through right now. But for me, it's about the people. It's not about any organization that might be doing good things or people think they're doing bad things. This is about the people. This about the people in my clubhouse, my great friends and my teammates and I feel really good about supporting them."
Wainwright said people have come at him on Twitter saying he's just standing behind this because of his son his family adopted last year, who is Black.
"People come at me and say 'The reason you're the way you are is because you have a Black son now'. But I'm still the same amount of human that I was yesterday. And I still have the same amount of love today for my brother that I did yesterday," Wainwright said.
Wainwright also talked about the role his strong Christian faith has played in navigating the current landscape.
"These times are interesting times. But what we need to do is look at the good in this and not what potentially could be the bad. By wearing that shirt, by wearing this patch, by being there for Dexter and for Willie and for Jack and for Jordan and for whoever else is going through this, it has given me a lot of opportunity to share my faith in different ways I never thought would be possible," Wainwright said.
At the end of the day, Wainwright said above all else, his stance with his teammates is above empathy.
"This movement is not about me, the middle-class white guy or whatever. It's not about anybody besides the people who are struggling with what they're struggling with. I understand people are going to get mad and want to cause divisiveness. I understand where everyone is coming from. Everybody has good intentions I hope, but for me and what I needed to do for this clubhouse and for my teammates was be there for them, and to love them well, and I think I'm doing that," Wainwright said.
"I can't offer any past experiences. I haven't dealt with the things people are saying they've dealt with. But what I can offer is empathy. And that's what I'm going to try to do. I'm going to try to be the best friend and teammate I possibly can. And at the end of the day, if people get mad at me for being a good teammate and a good friend, I'm OK with it."
