SF Giants Manager who Plans to Boycott National Anthem Draws Criticism from Chicago White Sox Manager

On Friday, Gabe Kapler told reporters, “I don’t plan on coming out for the anthem going forward until I feel better about the direction of our country.”

Kapler wrote about his boycott on his personal blog, “But we weren’t given bravery, and we aren’t free. The police on the scene put a mother in handcuffs as she begged them to go in and save her children. They blocked parents trying to organize to charge in to stop the shooter, including a father who learned his daughter was murdered while he argued with the cops. We aren’t free when politicians decide that the lobbyist and gun industries are more important than our children’s freedom to go to school without needing bulletproof backpacks and active shooter drills…

Every time I place my hand over my heart and remove my hat, I’m participating in a self congratulatory glorification of the ONLY country where these mass shootings take place. On Wednesday, I walked out onto the field, I listened to the announcement as we honored the victims in Uvalde. I bowed my head. I stood for the national anthem. Metallica riffed on City Connect guitars.”

Kapler goes after Congress in his blog pushing for gun control legislation, “We stand in honor of a country where we elect representatives to serve us, to thoughtfully consider and enact legislation that protects the interests of all the people in this country and to move this country forward towards the vision of the “shining city on the hill.”

“But instead, we thoughtlessly link our moment of silence and grief with the equally thoughtless display of celebration for a country that refuses to take up the concept of controlling the sale of weapons used nearly exclusively for the mass slaughter of human beings. We have our moment (over and over), and then we move on without demanding real change from the people we empower to make these changes. We stand, we bow our heads, and the people in power leave on recess, celebrating their own patriotism at every turn.”

“I don’t plan on coming out for the anthem going forward until I feel better about the direction of our country” – Gabe Kapler pic.twitter.com/J1MdlVL3XI

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) May 27, 2022

Chicago White Sox manager Tony La Russa disagrees with Kapler’s decision not to come out and stand for the national anthem. La Russa wanted to make it clear he respects Kapler “professionally and personally”. He also understands being concerned with what is happening in our country, “who isn’t”.

He then told reporters that he disagrees with Kapler in part, “there’s a lot of problems in this country that need to be addressed. Where I disagree is that the flag and the anthem are not appropriate places to try to voice your objection.” He then addresses those who have served our country and what it means to them.

“I think you go directly to what the cause that really bothers you about the direction of the country is.”

“So to me, it isn’t the flag and the anthem. I think it makes more sense to figure out which of those issues and speak about the ones he didn’t like and what he will do about it.”

Best-selling author Nick Adams, remarked on Kepler’s protest, “MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT: I will now be officially boycotting Major League Baseball for not banning SF Giants Manager Gabe Kapler from the league for disrespecting the National Anthem. Baseball cannot be America’s pastime without 100% respect for the National Anthem, period.”

MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT:

I will now be officially boycotting Major League Baseball for not banning SF Giants Manager Gabe Kapler from the league for disrespecting the National Anthem.

Baseball cannot be America's pastime without 100% respect for the National Anthem, period.

— Nick Adams (@NickAdamsinUSA) May 28, 2022

Journalist Kyle Becker rhetorically asks Kapler, “So, Gabe doesn’t like the national anthem unless he sees gun-grabber legislation. Very mature. Here’s an idea: If you’re smarter than the rest of us @gabekapler why don’t you school us on gun control? Explain first why it doesn’t work in America’s Democrat-run murder capitals.”

Retired Baseball player Lenny Dykstra joined in, “Yup. Maybe #GabeKapler can explain to us why the per-capita murder rate is so much higher in Democrat cities where @mlb is played than in Republican rural areas where they no longer watch these days?”

Yup. Maybe #GabeKapler can explain to us why the per-capita murder rate is so much higher in Democrat cities where @mlb is played than in Republican rural areas where they no longer watch these days? https://t.co/BWgdKA9gIx

— Lenny Dykstra (@LennyDykstra) May 29, 2022

Boycott or kneeling for the National Anthem has become a trendy protest of the left to push their ideals regardless of the disrespect it shows those who serve our country.