Kyle Schwarber battled through mental and physical fatigue to hit two home runs in the Chicago Cubs’ last two games.
The tension caused by the recent shooting of Jacob Blake by Kenosha police weighs on Schwarber, whose family tree includes several first responders.
Schwarber’s father, Greg, was the former police chief of Middletown, Ohio, and a 32-year veteran before retiring in 2012.
“And I’m married to a biracial woman,” Schwarber said Friday night after a 6-5 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. “All my nephews and nieces are biracial.
“My brother-in-law, who is my best friend in the world, married my sister and has been to every one of my sporting events since I was 5.”
Schwarber’s brother-in-law is Black.
Three years before police shootings of Breonna Taylor and Blake and the death of George Floyd, Schwarber started his Neighborhood Heroes campaign to honor first responders.
“I’m not trying to pull a card. This is my reality,” Schwarber said. “This is something I live every day. I want to be able to do the right thing and be able to hopefully show progression in the fact I just hope one day that this will all come to end and both sides will be at peace and be able to be everyday Americans and live out the American dream.”
Schwarber described Wednesday’s events, in which several players across sports including teammate Jason Heyward sat out their games in protest, as a day that was “pulling all of our hearts.”
Schwarber and the rest of his teammates followed Heyward’s wishes by playing Wednesday night despite wanting to support the Black community and their teammate.
The Cubs held a team meeting before Friday’s game to reinforce their team-wide support.
“We all just want to be there to support everyone in that situation and to be able to show that there needs to be change in this country,” Schwarber said. “We want to be able to support J-Hey, Jeremy Jeffress, all baseball players that are Black, and they’re doing one hell of a job right now using all our voices to show what we want to do to change. Hats off to those guys.”
Schwarber believes the Players Alliance, a group of more than 100 present and past Black major-league players seeking to create opportunities for the Black community in baseball, are doing a “great job” in raising awareness and attempting to make change.
“We’re everyday Americans, too,” said Schwarber, praising other sports for raising their voices in trying times. “We just do this for a living. We want our country to not be angry, I would say.
“It’s all about loving each other, treating each other with respect and not judging people just because they look some way.”
