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MLB

Aaron Judge pleased with Yankees’ show of unity on Opening Day

Jason Rowan
| July 24, 2020

The New York Yankees and Washington Nationals displayed a show of unity against systemic racism and social injustice ahead of their Opening Day game on Thursday, and Aaron Judge expressed approval of how his teammates handled the moment.

The Yankees wore Black Lives Matter shirts during batting practice and collectively took a knee before the national anthem ahead of the team’s 4-1 win over the Nationals to articulate their support of social justice causes.

After the game, Judge opened up about how the Yankees came together.

“We got a lot of guys in this clubhouse with different beliefs and different feelings and different walks of life and they’re from different countries. We wanted to respect all of that,” Judge told reporters. “As a team, we made a united decision to kneel right before the anthem. … There’s a lot of injustice in this world and a lot of bad things going on. We just wanted to show that we’re aware of it and start the conversation and start the change.”

Judge has been among the most outspoken players about the need for players to speak out against injustice as MLB prepared to open its delayed season. In fact, Judge was one of a handful of Yankees who joined several of the biggest names in baseball last month for a Black Lives Matter video which bore the message, “One Team. One Dream.”

As the league continues to deliberate how to best show support for Black Lives Matter and other social justice causes — and there have been acts of peaceful protest across the league already this season — it’s clear Judge is happy with how the Yankees organization is proactively playing a role in the burgeoning movement.