WASHINGTON AFP: Major League Baseball’s coronavirus-delayed season got underway on Thursday with players lining up to take a knee in a gesture of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.
Four months after the COVID-19 pandemic shelved the start of the 2020 campaign, baseball returned with the Washington Nationals hosting the New York Yankees before the Los Angeles Dodgers entertained the San Francisco Giants. Both games took place in eerily empty ballparks, a striking contrast to the celebratory atmosphere that normally accompanies the opening day festivities of the sport regarded as America’s pastime.
At both Nationals Park in Washington and Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, players took part in a pre-game tribute to Black Lives Matter, dropping to one knee while lifting a giant black banner in unison.