For the eight African-American players on the Mariners’ roster, the patch on their navy blue road jerseys for the series finale in Houston meant a little something more than a 100-year anniversary; it meant honoring those that came before them that didn’t have the opportunities they have today.
Major League Baseball celebrated the centennial celebration of the founding of the Negro Leagues across baseball on Sunday. All uniforms for players, coaches and umpires had a patch commemorating the anniversary, which was a derivative design of the official logo created by the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City.
That his start against the Astros came on this day was something extra for Justus Sheffield.
“Yeah, definitely 100 percent,” he said. “It’s just one of those things where you kind of step back and recognize that the reason why you’re even out there playing the game. For us to be able to celebrate you know, the 100th anniversary of the Negro Leagues is huge and amazing. And you know, there’s not many of us out there, pitchers especially, so to be able to get a start on this day, it meant a lot.”
The Mariners’ African-American players, along with broadcaster Dave Sims, have been very vocal about social justice and racial equality in the months after the death of George Floyd and the protests that followed.
Manager Scott Servais has encouraged them to speak out on social media and within the clubhouse, educating teammates about their experiences.
“It’s good organizationally for us to promote those guys and give them a voice and a platform to speak up,” he said. “I think we’ve done a great job organizationally as far as that goes.”
As part of the 100th anniversary celebration, the Mariners opened up the application process for their recently created “On BASE (Baseball and Softball Everywhere) Hometown Nine” initiative. It’s a program that is “designed to make sports more equitable and accessible for all young athletes regardless of any barriers they may face.”
The program works with the input and encouragement of current Mariners players to help kids from under-served communities of color to play baseball and softball, giving them opportunities to play from eighth grade through their senior year of high school by paying for all fees associated with travel, training and equipment for those sports.
Seattle will choose nine incoming eighth graders from the group of applicants submitted. They must meet the following criteria to be considered:
• Be legally enrolled as a full-time incoming eighth grade student in King, Pierce, or Snohomish County through June 2021;
• Demonstrate financial need;
• Demonstrate athletic ability to participate in elite/select baseball or softball;
• Be from a historically marginalized community, including communities of color;
• Possess strong character and be engaged in their community.
GRAVEMAN HAS BENIGN TUMOR — Seattle Mariners pitcher Kendall Graveman said Monday he has a benign bone tumor in his cervical spine but intends to continue pitching.
Graveman, who spoke after making a rehab outing, started this season in Seattle’s rotation and made two starts before going on the injured list with a neck spasm.
He said the symptoms first developed in 2018 and a diagnosis of the tumor came last season while he was recovering from Tommy John surgery in the Chicago Cubs organization. He said the location of the tumor makes it difficult to do a surgical procedure.
