Giants manager Gabe Kapler announced his national anthem protest on Friday in the wake of the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. A day later, his Mets counterpart, Buck Showalter, said he supports Kapler’s action and would support his players if they chose to do the same.
“I respect everybody’s views on stuff,” Showalter said before the Mets’ 8-2 victory over the Phillies on Saturday. “I wish we were all more open-minded to everybody’s views and their opinion. So those type of things, I just respect your right to have whatever. They all have opinions. I’m very attracted to people who listen and sometimes have their own opinion from other environments, things that they’ve been exposed to.”
“I respect how Gabe feels and the way he’s going about it.”
Showalter is not alone in his support of Kapler, with Rangers manager Chris Woodward calling his actions “brave” and Boston’s Alex Cora saying “I’m proud of him.” Meanwhile, the White Sox’s Tony La Russa said he disagreed with Kapler’s time to protest, calling his skipping out on the national anthem “not appropriate.”
Kapler on Friday said his protest will continue “until I feel better about the direction of our country” and “I don’t expect it to move the needle necessarily,” explanations that followed a blog he posted to his KAPLIFESTYLE website earlier Friday.
“The day 19 children and 2 teachers were murdered, we held a moment of silence at sporting events around the country, then we played the national anthem, and we went on with our lives,” Kapler wrote. “Players, staff and fans stood for the moment of silence, grieving the lives lost, and then we (myself included) continued to stand, proudly proclaiming ourselves the land of the free and the home of the brave. We didn’t stop to reflect on whether we are actually free and brave after this horrific event, we just stood at attention.
