San Francisco Giants Manager Gabe Kapler Will Not Be A Part Of National Anthem Ceremonies
deadline.comThe mass shooting this week at a Texas school has prompted San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler to invoke his own form of protest.Before the Giants faced the Reds on Friday in Cincinnati, Kapler said he wouldn’t participate in any on-field national anthem ceremonies until he could feel better about the country’s direction.
He also penned a blog post on his personal website expressing his feelings, titling it “Home of the Brave?”Kapler, described in an ESPN profile earlier this month as a “nonconformist,” has taken social stances in the past.
He was among a group of Giants that began kneeling during the anthem in 2020. This time, he said, he would merely make himself unavailable during the song in order to avoid perceptions that he was disrespecting the military or other aspects of US society that are represented by the anthem ceremonies.His protest is not expected to be very visible, as major league teams largely aren’t on the playing field for most of their games.
However, that could change if the Giants make the playoffs or if Kapler is a coach at baseball’s mid-summer All-Star Game.Ironically, Kapler’s national anthem protest comes the same week that the action’s professional sports originator, Colin Kaepernick, received a quaterback tryout with the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders.
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