Baseball players’ love of their country can heighten their desire to bring the game back from the coronavirus shutdown, Yankees president Randy Levine said on Thursday morning.
“I think our players are patriots,” Levine said on “Good Day New York.” “They want to do it. We all are trying to get there. The commissioner’s doing a great job. So hopefully in a little bit, we’ll hear, ‘Play ball!’”
As The Post’s Joel Sherman reported on Wednesday, Major League Baseball intends — by early next week at the latest — to present a best-case return scenario to the Players Association. Such a scenario will feature a resumption of spring training in June and Opening Day at the start of July. Many issues, both medical and logistical, must go optimally in order to make that a reality.
Levine, reiterating sentiments he has made recently, said he can envision fans returning to the stands by season’s end. Baseball hopes to begin its season with as many clubs playing at their home ballparks as possible, although harder-hit areas like New York might take longer to reach that milestone.
Regarding games being played at Yankee Stadium, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday, “I don’t think that’s coming soon.”
“I think those bigger gatherings and bigger events are going to be one of the last things as we restart,” de Blasio added.
Levine has his own ideas about how to bring fans back.
“I believe that we’re putting together all the protocols, but I think you ease in with fans,” Levine said. “You start with less fans. You have temperature taking,. You have health stations. You do a lot of testing. If people have a temperature or they aren’t feeling well, you take them to a health station. You wear masks and gloves. You only serve food that won’t impede that.
“And i think it’ll be nice. I think it would be pretty cool to have some Yankee masks and gloves out there.”
Asked how quickly he thinks fans can return in person, Levine said, “I think that all depends on the state of the virus. We just have to watch it on a daily and weekly basis. We have to follow the federal guidelines, the state guidelines and see where the virus is. There are some public health people who have said they believe the virus will wane in the summer months. Let’s hope so. We think it’s something you need to watch on a daily and weekly basis.”
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A member of New York governor Andrew Cuomo’s reopening committee, Levine expressed hope that baseball could help the country heal as it has in past crises.
“We’re very, very hopeful that we can get going,” he said. “Baseball has stepped up in troubled times to be a leader. We’re used to it. It’s a distraction. It’s comforting to people. It comes with the rhythm of their life.
“So we’re trying to do everything we can to get this season going and do it in a very, very safe way using all of the mitigation and all of the tools because most important thing testing and everything is to protect our fans, protect our players and our employees.”