Ten unvaccinated Royals can’t go to Toronto after neglecting their duty to teammates
As if this season hadn’t been laden with enough pratfalls, the Royals announced Wednesday afternoon that 10 players would be unable to make the trip to Toronto because they had not been vaccinated against COVID-19.
Ten Royals — more than double the amount (four) any other Major League Baseball team has left home because of Canada’s policy and the stupefying unwillingness of players to take the most basic action to look out for others.
Ten Royals whose ongoing neglect of a duty to teammates, fans and their employer now is amplified in an entirely different way.
Ten Royals who will get an early jump on the All-Star break … though one, Andrew Benintendi, will be representing them in the game at Dodger Stadium.
Sure, it’s a personal choice. OK.
Choices have consequences, though, and this one affects everyone else in their professional orbit.
The timing sure is a shame, as the Royals have won five of their last seven after a 5-2 victory over Detroit on Wednesday at Kauffman Stadium. But this exasperating season for the Royals (35-53) has long since stopped being about wins and losses and instead became about development.
So, hey, at least now we’ll get a fleeting sneak-peek at some young prospects, probably including the likes of Nick Pratto and Michael Massey.
Look, we’re not here to demonize the 10: Benintendi; Cam Gallagher; Dylan Coleman; Hunter Dozier; Kyle Isbel; Brad Keller; MJ Melendez; Whit Merrifield; Brady Singer and Michael A. Taylor.
I’m sure they’re all fine guys, and I’ve felt fortunate to get to know Merrifield and Dozier in particular over the years. I’ve enjoyed speaking with them many times, and I’m sorry I wasn’t there to be able to talk with them in person Wednesday, since a vacation week was scuttled by … testing positive for COVID-19. (Mild, probably because I’m vaccinated and boosted.)
Each has his reason for not getting vaccinated. And each rationale stems from its own belief system and, we’d surmise, echo chamber of family or choice of news outlets or sources online. Or maybe there was some groupthink among them.
To their credit, seven of the 10 spoke at least briefly with the media in the clubhouse after the restricted list was announced. Courtesy of The Star’s Pete Grathoff and Nathan Han, the prevailing explanations were along the lines of “didn’t think the risk was worth it” (Merrifield) to “I want my body to naturally fight stuff off” (Dozier) to “it just felt very rushed to me” (Coleman).
(An aside: If I were on the team, I’d certainly find it dispiriting to see that Merrifield said he might reconsider if “something happens, and I get on a team that has a chance to go play in Canada in the postseason.”)
Their opinions, though, defy all the most credible science.
They shrug off the fact that the CDC states that the vaccines are safe and effective and that health experts consider vaccination and boosters as the best known way to prevent illness, hospitalization and death from COVID-19.
And you could say “suit yourself” if this were in a vacuum. But their stances ignore their role as links in the human chain and the fact that they’re part of an interdependent clubhouse … and an organization that has every right to expect them to do all they can to be able to play.
Sure, we all pick our battles. But they chose this one despite multiple and intense efforts by the Royals to educate and encourage vaccination.
So what’s the message to the other players here?
Maybe this would at least seem semi-palatable if it were a mere few of these men. Cumulatively, though, the number is preposterous and distressing.
Especially because of what it suggests about how they view their obligation to one of the prime directives of being a Royal: to first be a great teammate.
President Dayton Moore has conveyed that message over and over again over the years, and it’s something we could all take to heart in how we treat co-workers.
It’s a point of emphasis because being focused solely on yourself can warp how you play (or behave) and distort your mindset in success or failure. It also can obscure what it takes to think, and perform, in the context of being part of something bigger than yourself.
It’s sure hard to see that through this lens, isn’t it?
All along, they’ve made a choice to be more willing to risk testing positive and missing games than their teammates who got vaccinated.
It’s just that now the rest of us know it, too, in a most stark way: Nearly half the team will sit out a trip each of the 10 knew for months he’d likely be jeopardizing by not getting vaccinated.
It’s sad and disillusioning. The Royals and their fans deserve better — and so especially do the teammates the 10 have left in an unnecessary bind.
This story was originally published July 13, 2022 at 9:43 PM.