In a lengthy and emotional Instagram post, the 34-year-old cited the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic, the social impact of the protests that followed the killing of George Floyd on May 25 and baseball’s labor struggle and its lack of diversity as the reasons behind his decision.
Addressing the latter issue, Desmond wrote: “Right now in baseball we’ve got a labor war. We’ve got rampant individualism on the field. In clubhouses we’ve got racist, sexist, homophobic jokes or flat-out problems.
“We’ve got cheating. We’ve got a minority issue from the top down. One African American GM. Two African American managers. Less than eight percent Black players. No Black majority team owners.
“Perhaps most disheartening of all is a puzzling lack of focus on understanding how to change those numbers. A lack of focus on making baseball accessible and possible for all kids, not just those who are privileged enough to afford it. If baseball is America’s pastime, maybe it’s never been a more fitting one than now.”
Originally scheduled for March 26, Opening Day was postponed indefinitely because of the COVID-19 outbreak. Now that the MLB has finally agreed on a restart date after months of difficult negotiations between owners and the players’ union, coronavirus cases are again spiking in some parts of the U.S. and at least 15 states have either paused or reversed plans to reopen after the lockdown.
A post shared by Ian Desmond (@i_dez20) on Jun 29, 2020 at 6:53pm PDT
As of Tuesday morning almost 2.59 million cases of coronavirus have been reported in the U.S., by far the highest tally of any country in the world.
Of the over 505,500 deaths recorded worldwide so far, 126,100 have been recorded in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University, which has been tracking the outbreak using combined data sources.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has made this baseball season one that is a risk I am not comfortable taking. With a pregnant wife and four young children who have lots of questions about what’s going on in the world, home is where I need to be right now. Home for my wife, Chelsey. Home to help. Home to guide. Home to answer my older three boys’ questions about coronavirus and civil rights and life. Home to be their dad.”
Desmond’s heartfelt post was widely praised. ESPN’s MLB insider Jeff Pasan said Desmond had perfectly summed up the feelings of many as he posted part of the message on Twitter.
Molly Knight of The Athletic described the post as “outstanding”, a feeling which was echoed by a number of other journalists and pundits who all praised the Rockies star’s principled stance.
Last week, MLB owners voted unanimously in favor of implementing the terms of the agreement they made with the MLB Players’ Association on March 26. Spring Training will begin on July 1 and the regular season will consist of 60 games instead of the usual 162-game slate, with the postseason featuring 10 teams as it has done since 2012.
Players will earn full pro-rated salaries for every game they play, meaning that on a 60-game regular season basis players stand to earn approximately 37 percent of their full-season salaries.
In Desmond’s case, the prorated portion of his 2020 salary amounts to approximately $5.5 million. However, he will forfeit the amount unless the MLB determines him a “high-risk” player in terms of health.
The two-time All-Star has one year and an option remaining on his five-year, $70 million contract after this season.
