Kneeling players no issue for Jeter
Marlins part-owner says critics discount reasons for protest.
MARLINS — Most players on the Miami Marlins would probably tell you they’re more interested in Derek Jeter’s take on beards and mustaches — which haven’t been permitted in the past — than whether he’ll allow them to kneel during the national anthem.
After all, not one of them took a knee toward the end of the season when the anthem protest was picking up steam in the NFL.
But just in case any of them was wondering, Jeter doesn’t appear to have any problem with it.
Speaking at his Turn 2 Foundation banquet in New York on Wednesday, the Marlins’ new part-owner said kneeling was fine with him.
“The thing that I think is frustrating, this whole rhetoric that is going back and forth. People lose sight of the fact of why someone is kneeling,” Jeter said, according to the New York Daily News. “They’re focused so much on the fact that they are kneeling as opposed to what they’re kneeling for. Peaceful protests are fine. You have your right to voice your opinion. As long as it’s a peaceful protest, everyone should be fine with that.”
The kneeling movement hasn’t taken hold in baseball the way it has in football. Oakland A’s catcher Bruce Maxwell knelt during the anthem in September. But he was the only one. None of the players on the 10 teams involved in this year’s postseason have done so.
For a period, including his one season with the Marlins in 2005, former major leaguer Carlos Delgado refused to stand on the field for “God Bless America” when it was played during the seventh-inning stretch. Delgado didn’t like how it was tied to the war in Iraq, which he opposed.
As for Jeter, he didn’t indicate whether he’d kneel.
“Would I? I’m not playing,” he said Wednesday.
Honors coming: Giancarlo Stanton might want to start clearing some space on his trophy shelf. Awards season is just around the corner.
Stanton, coming off a banner season in which he led the majors with 59 home runs, has been chosen as one of three finalists for “Player of the Year” in voting by his peers. In their annual “Players Choice Awards,” the league’s players also picked Houston’s Jose Altuve and Colorado’s Nolan Arenado as finalists for their top award.
Stanton is expected to receive strong consideration for National League MVP, decided by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. That award will be announced in November.
But the players have their awards and, unlike the writers, they pick an overall “Player of the Year” that involves players from the National and American leagues.