Doug Glanville, Jason Heyward and Gary Matthews joined Cole Wright on a MLK Jr. Day special edition of Cubs 360 presented by Miller Lite to discuss the importance and value the Players Alliance brings to the youth and to Major League Baseball.

Heyward believes this organization is a great way to start promoting diversity.

“I think when we talk about having Black players in Major League Baseball, I think you need to have influence,” Heyward said. “I think for us to be able to go into these communities that do need…some support and really need positive influence, that was huge for the Players Alliance to show up and to be able to introduce ourselves and say, ‘Here we are.'”

Matthews had nothing but high praises for the newly created Players Alliance and believes this will help increase diversity in the sport of baseball in the future.

“The most difficult thing for a lot of the kids that live in the city is being able to get equipment,” Matthews said. “When you’re able to go out, you have a major league player that comes in, you can actually see them. You can touch them. That becomes like a hero. Now, all of a sudden, your dream becomes a little big bigger. I think you need it in order to give kids really a chance that they’re not inferior of going out to a field and not having a glove, shoes and so on. Therefore, I think you’ll be able to see a lot more African-American kids that might go out on the field and play, because now, all of a sudden, they do have equipment.”

Glanville is really intrigued to see how the Players Alliance will advance moving forward.

“The fact that they toured the country is unprecedented,” Glanville said. “You have to go back to the barn-storming days to think about going city to city and connecting over a really difficult period in the pandemic to make sure the communities know that they’re part of it and also that people care about them. I’m excited to see where the Alliance goes, because Major League Baseball is investing in it. There’s so much potential as how this can really shape the game through the lens of a different community that’s really had declining representation.”