When Cavan Biggio walked into Tropicana Field for his first Opening Day on Friday, he didn’t plan to kneel during the national anthem.

Biggio entered the clubhouse and found his locker next to Anthony Alford’s. The two knew that both the Blue Jays and the Rays would stand along the baselines prior to the game holding a 200-yard black cloth in a planned gesture to bring attention to racial injustice. Alford wanted to take further action.

Alford is the lone Black player on the Blue Jays’ roster. He’s also on the edge of that roster and not a starter, so while Biggio understood that his teammate wanted to take a knee during the U.S. national anthem, he also understood why Alford was hesitant.

• Lineup, bullpen click in Ryu's Toronto debut

“I told him, ‘If I did it, would you feel more comfortable doing it?’” Biggio said. “And he said yes.”

After much of the Blue Jays' roster knelt during the planned gesture prior to the anthems, Alford and Santiago Espinal stayed kneeling for the Canadian anthem. When the American anthem began, Biggio, standing directly to Alford’s left, took a knee. To Alford’s right was Rowdy Tellez, his hand placed on Alford’s shoulder throughout. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. also knelt.

“I just wanted to show support to not only a teammate, but someone I consider a brother,” Biggio said.

Manager Charlie Montoyo called it “beautiful” after the game, and he stood behind his players. He’d made a point to speak with each player prior to the game and share with them his own feelings that if they chose not to kneel, it did not mean they didn’t support Alford or the Black Lives Matter movement. Montoyo also wanted them to know they’d be supported if they did.

Since Biggio’s arrival in 2019, many within the organization have framed him as a leader, regardless of his age. He isn’t the loudest, but neither was Friday’s action. Biggio was an ally on Alford’s terms, not his own, and acted from a place of compassion and empowerment. This is what a leader looks like.

Alford has been open in discussing racism, not only that which he’s experienced himself, but the broader systemic issue. In June, while speaking about being a new father and raising a Black child in 2020, Alford addressed the solutions.

“The fight isn’t just like all Black people coming together. It’s literally going to take everybody to come together to change the system," Alford said. "I’m talking about Black, white, Hispanic; all different races are going to have to come together and fight for one cause. Because if it’s just Black people, we’re 13 percent of the population. We’re a minority. We can’t make that change on our own. It’s going to take everybody joining with us and fighting for what’s right.”

The bond between Alford and Biggio has been evident for some time now, and it showed itself in the unlikeliest of ways last spring. In early March 2019, Biggio crashed his truck on the way home from their stadium in Dunedin, Fla., when another car blew through a yield sign. The first person on the scene, pulling Biggio from the truck, was Alford, who’d been driving behind him.

Biggio’s truck was totaled. The next day, he told the story of the hug he gave Alford and how good it was to see a familiar face in a moment of fear. Alford spoke about the perspective it gave him, and he explained how his teammates were a family to him.

“I was proud to do it with him,” Biggio said. “I think we can all agree that there needs to be change. I’n just trying to do my part.”