St. Louis Cardinals’ ace Jack Flaherty emerging as leader on mound, in his community
Jack Flaherty’s dominant 2019 season saw him finish in the top five in National League Cy Young Award voting.
It saw him record an historically impressive second half, and it saw him rise to become the unquestioned ace of the St. Louis Cardinals pitching staff.
To be an ace, a player has to be a leader. That comes from competitive fire on the field, in which Flaherty has never been lacking.
It also comes with a comfort in one’s persona and confidence in one’s voice off the field. To lead is to act with purpose and precision.
Flaherty, who has described himself as “a mixed person of color,” has not missed an opportunity during MLB’s coronavirus-related pause to be that leader on the issues which matter to him.
“It kind of struck a nerve watching that video,” Flaherty said Wednesday, discussing the death of George Floyd. “It’s just something that struck a nerve. It felt like, I don’t know ... We have this platform, we have this opportunity to speak up, this opportunity to talk and to try to do anything we can to make change.
“It’s just an issue that’s gone on for far too long, and it just hit a nerve. You see everybody try to come together and force a call to action, and it was great. It was great to see everyone come together.”
That coming together has included conversations with teammates and competitors alike.
It has included persistent usage of his social media accounts, particularly Instagram, to draw attention to the injustice of the death of Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many others.
It has also included reflection on the way Major League Baseball has failed to reckon with the issues which have faced the Black community, even as Black participation in baseball has plummeted in recent years.
“If you want to have more conversations about what’s going on and not feel uncomfortable to speak about anything, just have man-to-man conversations,” Flaherty offered. “There’s ways to educate yourself, there’s ways to learn. Even myself, I don’t know everything. I need to ask certain people around me or watch different things or read.”
Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said he’s pleased to see Flaherty’s “heart” emerge in an effort to improve his community.
“I always look for solution-based people. Jack’s a solution-based guy. He’s proactive,” Shildt said. “He’s thought about it and he’s thought through it. I’m confident he’s being respectful in how he’s doing it, but he’s sincere about change.
“And I support that completely.”
Part of pursuing that change is considering the most effective way to drive society in that direction. Flaherty spoke of players in the NBA and WNBA choosing to sit out the restarts of those leagues as a protest action or as a way to raise awareness.
He considered doing the same. Ultimately, he opted to make statements on the field even as he continues to use his voice away from it.
“To say (sitting out) didn’t cross my mind ... it did,” Flaherty admitted. “I think there’s two ways to go about it. You can be in the sport, be in the game, and play the game and continue to grow and use the platform while playing, to advocate for these things.
“This is not a time for sports to become a distraction. That’s a big thing that everybody’s advocating for. Sports are coming back. Slowly but surely we’re getting there, we’re getting to a point. But it’s not meant to be a distraction. It’s not meant to turn away from everything that has gone on in the past couple weeks.”
Flaherty believes baseball players could kneel
Flaherty also spoke of former Oakland A’s catcher Bruce Maxwell, who in 2017 knelt during the national anthem in protest of police brutality and a white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Maxwell knelt alone that day. Flaherty doesn’t believe he would be alone now.
“It’s a special thing that he did, and it’s really unfortunate for how it turned out,” Flaherty said. “I figured you’d ask if there was a possibility that baseball players don’t stand for the anthem, I’d say absolutely. We kind of wish that we had been there for Bruce and had his back and been able to come together back then the way that we are now.”
Even as Black participation in the sport dwindles, the tapestry which is woven throughout baseball is one of the most diverse in all of professional sports. The Cardinals’ roster includes players born in eight different countries, and hometowns spanning the United States from San Diego to Boston.
There is commonality in that connection. From there can come understanding and strength. It’s there that Flaherty seizes leadership, even as he strives to learn.
“There’s a way to build relationships within communities, within leagues and within some of these households to try to bring baseball into these households,” Flaherty said.
“And try to figure the right way to do it is still being figured out. It’s not something that is by and large — you don’t have to figure it out. We don’t have all the answers.”
There’s a will to learn. There’s leadership. There’s an ace.
