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 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 and how those two things didn’t sync up well for me,” 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 self congratulatory glorification of the ONLY country where these mass shootings take place,” Kapler wrote Friday morning.
“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.
“My brain said drop to a knee; my body didn’t listen. I wanted to walk back inside; instead I froze. I felt like a coward. I didn’t want to call attention to myself. I didn’t want to take away from the victims or their families. There was a baseball game, a rock band, the lights, the pageantry. I knew that thousands of people were using this game to escape the horrors of the world for just a little bit. I knew that thousands more wouldn’t understand the gesture and would take it as an offense to the military, to veterans, to themselves.
“But I am not okay with the state of this country. I wish I hadn’t let my discomfort compromise my integrity. I wish that I could have demonstrated what I learned from my dad, that when you’re dissatisfied with your country, you let it be known through protest. The home of the brave should encourage this.”
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 with that change, I think it’s important that my actions change, too … I believe the stories shouldn’t be about me and about what I’m doing during the anthem. They should be about the people in our country who are hurt by these systems, and about the work being done to bring about positive change.”
His actions Friday and going forward in response to the Texas school shooting were partially inspired by Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who was 18 when his father was killed by gun violence and has been an outspoken advocate for reforming gun laws in the U.S.
Before the Warriors’ game Tuesday night in Dallas, some 400 miles from the scene of the massacre, Kerr declined to speak about basketball and delivered an emotional message calling for change.
“It certainly inspired me to some degree,” Kapler said. “I’ve had a few shorter conversations with Steve. I can’t say I know him intimately. He was especially powerful in that video.”
