Aaron Hicks skips Yankees-Blue Jays game in response to police shooting of unarmed Black man in Minnesota suburb
DUNEDIN, Fla. — Aaron Hicks sat out of Monday night’s game against the Blue Jays because of a strong emotional reaction he had to the police shooting of another unarmed Black man in Minnesota. Hicks had a conversation with manager Aaron Boone Monday afternoon, explaining he was having a hard time dealing with the death of Duante Wright and the protests that it has sparked.
“With all that’s going on in Minneapolis, he’s having a tough time right now. And we had a conversation in my office, he just felt like it was best to not be in the starting lineup tonight,” the Yankees manager said. “I certainly support that, and (we will) try and rally around him the best we can.”
“Obviously, the situation it’s heartbreaking right now.”
Boone said he also had a conversation with slugger Giancarlo Stanton, who was also considering if he would pull out of the game as of 5 p.m., as well as hitting coach Marcus Thames. The Twins and Red Sox game at Target Field was postponed Monday night because of the incident and the curfews in response to the protests. The NBA and NHL games involving the Timberwolves and Wild were also postponed.
Wright, 20, was fatally shot by a police officer Sunday at a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. In a press conference Monday, Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon described the shooting as an “accidental discharge,” noting that the officer intended to fire a taser at Wright instead of a handgun.
Minneapolis, where the trial for former police officer Derrick Chauvin accused of murdering George Floyd is currently underway, and Brooklyn Center, a suburb of the city, were under curfews as protests turned into riots on Sunday.
Hicks, Stanton and Thames spoke emotionally last year in support of the movement for racial justice in the aftermath of Floyd’s murder. Stanton and Hicks initially knelt during the national anthem in the wake of those protests. They also publicly expressed their difficulties of, as Hicks put it, living “as a Black man in America.”
“He came to me probably about an hour ago. I think it’s just been a hard day for him, understandably, and emotional and I just think he felt like he would have a hard time going out there tonight,” Boone said before the game. “He probably just thought it was best to keep him out of the lineup, so that’s about how it went. Obviously, all I can do is try and as best I can to offer that support and let them know that I’m here for him and I understand.”
When the reason for Hicks being scratched from the lineup was made public on Twitter, there was backlash from fans. Boone said that was unfair and frankly unimportant.
“Aaron’s hurting in a huge way and I think in a way felt like it was probably the responsible thing to take himself out and knowing that it was gonna be hard for him to be all in mentally in what’s a high stake difficult job to go out there and perform for the New York Yankees,” Boone said. “So I don’t really even give two thoughts (to) that.
“My consideration is with Aaron and his well being and making sure that as best we can, we support him and try to be there as best we can for him right now,” Boone added. “So, this is something in the immediate that’s real emotion that he’s feeling, and right now I’m going to support that.”
Boone reiterated that this is part of baseball and part of being a team.
“It’s life,” Boone said. “This is our livelihood, it really, it’s really important to us. But, people we come in contact with each and every day, work with closely ,share so much with, essentially our like family. We all have families. Life happens. There are great times and good times and great days and, tragic things that come up that affect so many people in so many different ways, and you try to conduct and live your life the best way.
“Sometimes that means loving and supporting someone through something,” Boone said. “I would just say, all in all it’s part of life.”
