Cubs’ Cameron Maybin Pleased With Rapid Growth Of Players Alliance

Cameron Maybin and CC Sabathia had a lot of long talks last season while teammates with the New York Yankees.

Maybin, the journeyman outfielder, and Sabathia, the potential Hall of Fame pitchers, had many conversations about race. They talked quite often about what it’s like to be a Black man playing Major League Baseball.

“We just bonded,” Maybin said. “We both have children. We both have young black men we are raising, so we’re always talking about what we can do to improve our game and how can we improve our game to help solve some of the social injustices issues going on.”

Maybin, though, knew talking was not enough.

In the wake of George Floyd, a Black man, dying at the hands of a white police officer May 25 in Minneapolis, Maybin felt it was time to act.

In a matter of days after Floyd’s death, Maybin and over 100 current and former Black players formed the Players Alliance.

Three months later, Maybin is pleased with how the organization has been received throughout baseball and particularly by Commissioner Rob Manfred and others in MLB’s central office.

“They’ve been extremely involved, extremely willing to hear the concerns, the issues that are going on. We’re very appreciate of them,” Maybin said earlier this week after being traded to the Chicago Cubs from the Detroit Tigers.

It also makes Maybin happy that white, Latin and Asian players have also shown their support.

“You go to the park and I saw a few guys in the other dugout wearing Players Alliance shirts and other guys wearing “One Team, One Dream” shirts,” Maybin said. “To see that around the league is great.”

The Players Alliance’s mission statement is to “create an inclusive culture within baseball and the community, where differences are leveraged to elevate racial equality and provide greater opportunities for the Black community, both in our game and the places where we live in, play in, and care about most.”

Maybin feels it is a sign of progress for the neophyte organization that players of all ethnicities are talking about social injustice matters in clubhouses throughout the major leagues. Furthermore, 11 MLB games were postponed last week as players tried to shed light on social justice issues by not playing.

“I had a conversation with some my teammates in the Tigers’ locker room before I left and it was a great conversation about just what it’s like to be an African-American man, not just in baseball but in the world today.

“To get the acknowledgement and the love I got back was awesome It’s something you’re seeing around the league and I think it’s awesome, I really do.”

Social justice is currently at the forefront for the Players Alliance. However, one of its other long-term goals is see an increase in Black players and front office members.

Less than 8 percent of the players on opening-day rosters during this pandemic-shortened season were Black. Furthermore, the Chicago White Sox’s Ken Williams and Miami Marlins’ Michael Hill are the only two Blacks heading a team’s baseball operations department.

The lack of representation pains Maybin, who grew up in North Carolina learning about the history of Blacks in baseball from his father. Maybin also wore No. 42 in youth leagues to honor Jackie Robinson, who broke MLB’s color barrier in 1947.

Maybin staunchly believes the Players Alliance will help boost those numbers over time.

“At the end of the day, it’s not going to just be a flip of the switch,” Maybin said. “Just anything else, it only changes with educating each other, having the conversations, doing what we’re doing now. You’ve to crawl before walk. You’ve got to start somewhere.

“All we can do it take it one day a time and put our heads together and our hearts together and try to do the best we can to create some changes.”