A Black man who is their friend, their teammate, tried to tell them — tell us — what it was like to be him. What 25 years in his skin has felt like. What the world and in particular America has looked like from there.
He cried. He’d tried so many words before. This time he cried, straight from his soul.
He’s a big, strong fellow who’s done pretty well for himself. He long ago went running out after that baseball dream and on a Wednesday night in the oddest, most trying summer anyone could remember, he’d stood in the outfield of a major-league stadium and helped the New York Mets win a baseball game.