Giants manager announces plans to boycott national anthem after latest school massacre
CINCINNATI — There was a significant presence missing from the field Friday during the national anthem before the Giants’ game at Great American Ballpark, and there will be into the foreseeable future: manager Gabe Kapler.
In the wake of the tragic massacre in Uvalde, Texas, this week that left 19 children and two teachers dead, Kapler said he will no longer stand on the field for the national anthem in an act of peaceful protest.
“Until I feel better about the direction of our country,” Kapler explained Friday before the Giants’ series opener against the Reds. “I don’t expect it to move the needle, necessarily. It’s just something I feel strongly enough about to take that step.”
It took Kapler a couple of days to process his thoughts about the tragedy, which occurred only hours before the Giants played one of their most thrilling games in recent history, a 13-12 win over the Mets. The game, however, was overshadowed by what took place beforehand.
Kapler stood with the rest of Oracle Park in a moment of silence honoring the victims, then watched as Metallica played the national anthem. In retrospect, he said he wished he had done more to express his frustration with the state of the country, something his late father, Michael, would have encouraged.
“I knew that I was not in my best space mentally, and I knew that it was in connection with some of the hypocrisy of standing for the national anthem and how it coincided with the moment of silence,” Kapler said.
Reflecting further Friday in a post on his personal blog, Kapler said he wished he would have walked away or taken a knee, as he’d done during the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, because the school shooting felt like another example of his country failing to meet the values espoused in its national anthem.
“Every time I place my hand over my heart and remove my hat, I’m participating in a glorification of the ONLY country where these mass shootings take place,” Kapler wrote Friday morning.
Kapler was one of a select few members in MLB to take a knee for the national anthem in 2020, telling reporters at the time he “wanted to use my platform to demonstrate my dissatisfaction with the way we’ve handled racism in our country.”
But he stopped doing so in 2021, explaining that “our country and our dialogue has changed, and it’s important that my actions change, too.” His actions Friday were partially inspired by Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who has been an outspoken advocate for reforming gun laws in the U.S.
Before the Warriors’ game Tuesday night in Dallas, Kerr delivered an emotional message calling for change.