Cutch took lead in planning 'moment of unity'

PHILADELPHIA -- Andrew McCutchen said earlier this month that he wanted to do more than send a tweet about social justice, only to put down his phone and live the rest of his life.

He said he wanted to bring change to the world. He said he had plans.

McCutchen did not elaborate, but his plans crystallized over the past couple of days. Thursday, the Yankees and Nationals in Washington and the Giants and Dodgers in Los Angeles held a black tapestry in pregame ceremonies before Opening Night, a means to show unity and awareness to injustice not just in the United States, but across the world. The Phillies and Marlins performed the same ceremony before Friday night’s season opener at Citizens Bank Park.

The idea came from McCutchen. He and his wife, Maria, also wrote the speech that actor Morgan Freeman read during the ceremony.

“It all began, honestly, with a conversation that me and my wife were having just about what I felt that I wanted to do and having the platform that I do, what I wanted to do going into the season,” he said Friday. “At that time, the only thing that I could do was kneel, me personally. I felt that the only thing I could do to show my reasonings and my emotions and how I feel was by kneeling. After really giving it some thought and really talking to my wife about the question of, ‘Why are we kneeling?’ and saying ‘We’re kneeling because we’re asking for change’ and her saying, ‘Well, don’t you think you can do more?’

“Fast forward and it became what it is now. It’s everyone linking together, unified, and standing for each other. Having a moment for us as baseball players, which is separate from Major League Baseball, which is separate from the anthem. This is for us having a moment for us that links our unity together.”

Since a police officer in Minneapolis killed George Floyd while Floyd was in custody, sparking protests across the country, the Black Lives Matter movement has grown rapidly. McCutchen said he has had hard conversations with people who still see things differently than him, including conversations in the clubhouse.

“First, it took us pulling a chair up to one another and saying, ‘This is going to be uncomfortable, but we have to have this conversation. We have to talk about this because I want to understand where you’re coming from and I want you to understand where I’m coming from. I’m a little confused about it. Let’s talk about it,’” McCutchen said. “That’s ultimately the point. The point is this is what we need to have. We need to have open dialogue. We need to talk. We can’t just jump to conclusions without having a conversation with each other. … In a nutshell, I told them that I stand for what is, that my life matters. My life matters.”