MLB Opening Day
After a nearly four-month delay, Major League Baseball Opening Day finally arrived on Thursday. The 60-game 2020 season will no doubt be unusual for both players and fans. In Washington, D.C., all players on the Nationals and Yankees teams united before the start of the game in a show of solidarity for racial unity by kneeling along the foul line for 60-seconds, as they held a black ribbon. They also participated in a moment of silence after a video narrated by Morgan Freeman was shown. Each player then stood for the playing of the National Anthem. The opening ceremonial pitch was thrown by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading expert on infectious disease, who was invited by the Nationals to honor his concerted efforts in fighting the virus since the start of the pandemic. A similar show of solidarity played out before the opening day second game on the west coast between the Dodgers and the Giants, except a few of the players remained kneeling during the anthem. The games went on with surreal images of empty stadium stands. The rest of the league starts today with 14 games scheduled.
Doug Garfinkel has been a writer for over 30 years, working on a wide variety of websites and publications. He currently works as a High School teacher in Great Neck, NY, while continuing to write.