New MLB Manager Immediately Reverses Team's National Anthem Policy
Players on the San Francisco Giants baseball team — and anyone else in their dugout — will be required to stand for the national anthem this season.
The new rule has nothing to do with politics or even patriotism, new team manager Bob Melvin told USA Today’s Bob Nightengale on Friday.
What it is about, Melvin said, is teamwork, getting everyone out on the field together in a display of unity for everyone to see.
“You want your team ready to play and I want the other team to notice it, too,’” Melvin said. “It’s as simple as that. They’re embracing it.”
Nightengale noted that Melvin’s position represented a 180-degree difference from the policy under previous manager Gabe Kapler.
After the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Kapler stopped standing on the field for the anthem, he said.
Kapler even knelt during the anthem several times after the 2020 death of George Floyd while in police custody.
“I don’t plan on coming out for the anthem going forward until I feel better about the direction of our country,” Kapler said then, according to the New York Post.
Kapler was fired in late September after having led the Giants to only one postseason showing in four seasons, ESPN reported at the time.
Melvin told Nightengale that it was time to move on from all that and focus on winning baseball games.
“Look, we’re a new team here, we got some good players here,’’ Melvin told him.
“It’s more about letting the other side know that we’re ready to play,” he added. “I want guys out here ready to go. There’s a personality to that. It has nothing to do with whatever happened in the past or whatever, it’s just something I embrace.”
Reaction on social media to Melvin’s decision was largely positive.
About time this is such a distraction to the game. Just play baseball
— Gianni, Spokeperson for None of These (@giannipov) March 4, 2024
As it should be, ohmigosh.
— Randi Novak (@rnovak1111) March 4, 2024
@StevenACohen2 needs to make this Mets policy. Last couple games I went to in September only 5-10 players could be bothered to come out of the clubhouse for the anthem. Change the culture.
— Sean (@SLCDmac98) March 4, 2024
The Giants will play their first game of the season in San Diego against the Padres on March 28.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
