DENVER — Charlie Blackmon just wants to get back to baseball.
Appearing on "The Rich Eisen Show" on Monday afternoon, the Colorado Rockies All-Star outfielder discussed keeping people safe but also returning to the game he loves.
"A lot of players have concerns, I'm one of them. I don't want to get sick and I don't want to bring people together such that other people get sick, especially those that are at risk," Blackmon said. "At the same time, I'm not playing, I'm not getting paid and neither are a lot of people that work at the stadium. There's a lot of people that depend on Major League Baseball for their livelihood. Bigger than that this country needs baseball."
On Monday morning, details emerged from the league about a plan that would include opening day around July 4 and an 82-game schedule. The owners have approved it and now it's up to MLB's players' union.
"Everybody wants to play. Hopefully, this is the beginning where we get the ball rolling and return to normalcy," Blackmon said.
"I am surprised at this point that we don't have more confirmed cases among players in the game. You can't ignore the fact there is a pandemic going on. I think we have the ability to test frequently enough and do our best at isolating players so that we can get going," he added.
While several proposals have focused on all 30 teams gathering in just one or two states to play games, this latest one presents the option for many teams to play in their home ballparks, but without fans. Quarantining amongst players would be non-negotiable, meaning players would have to play games then immediately return home.
"Guys around the league work so hard to get here if you were to say 'hey, all we have to do to play baseball is quarantine,' I'm not batting an eye at that. I'm quarantining right now," Blackmon said. "I'm doing everything I can to stay healthy and safe and not spread this. It's not something we haven't already been doing and I'm definitely prepared to do that."
