Aaron Boone, Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge and Aaron Hicks donate a day's pay to The Players' Alliance

The Yankees' Aaron Boone, Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge and Aaron Hicks were among the hundreds of baseball players and managers who donated one day’s salary to The Players’ Alliance, an MLB program that promotes Black participation in organized baseball — an effort to continue to honor Jackie Robinson’s legacy.

The Yankees and Rays celebrated Jackie Robinson Day a day late because of the off day Thursday. More than 250 players and managers signed over their salaries, according to MLB.

Stanton’s donation will be close to $156,000, given that he’s slated to make $29 million this year and player salaries are based on a 186-day work year. Stanton, Hicks and Judge, all part of The Players' Alliance, were among the Yankees who donated.

MLB collected $1 million last year, though it stands to be more this year. Part of the money will go to the Jackie Robinson Foundation, according to MLB, and some of the proceeds will go toward the Alliance’s 2021 Gear For Good equipment distribution program.

"He paved the way for me to be able to play," Stanton said. It’s a show of "respect and [wanting to] help any way I can."

Added Boone: "Hopefully, it gives [The Players’ Alliance] even more wind in their sails to go out and impact current people but even the future generations in our sport — impacting kids to be more involved in our sport and ultimately try and continue to grow our game and leave it in a better place."

Montgomery ready

After allowing two two-run homers against the Rays and hitting Austin Meadows twice in his previous start, Jordan Montgomery — who insists those hit by pitches weren’t intentional — has put together his game plan to face the Rays again Saturday.

Montgomery, who was brilliant in his first start of the year, stumbled last Sunday, allowing those four runs and five hits in five innings-plus, with two walks and four strikeouts. He took some solace in the fact that he was mostly the victim of two bad pitches and that he was able to grind through innings despite admittingly not having his best stuff.

"That’s what it’s about," he said. "When you’re a starter, making 30 starts, more times than not, it’s going to be a grind, so going out there trying to limit damage . . . Take two pitches away from that, it could have been a completely different game. That’s one thing I took. I was able to pitch into the sixth and really just kind of grind the whole game. I’m going to try to find my tempo a little better."

Two Yankees were brushed by pitches in that game, too, but Meadows was hit high in the right shoulder a day after hitting a home run. There has been plenty of tension between the Yankees and Rays in recent years, and Montgomery said he hopes the teams can put their differences aside.

By Laura Albanese

laura.albanese@newsday.com@AlbaneseLaura

Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.