Following the shooting at a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school on Tuesday, San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler said Friday that he will remain in his team’s dugout while the national anthem is played before games “until I feel better about the direction of our country.”
Kapler published a post on his blog Friday in which he expressed his thoughts about the shooting and the national anthem, and then he told reporters of his decision to stay in the dugout a few hours later prior to the Giants’ road contest against the Cincinnati Reds.
“That’ll be the step. I don’t expect it to move the needle necessarily,” Kapler told reporters. “It’s just something that I feel strongly enough about to take that step.”
In his blog post, Kapler wrote in part, “When I was the same age as the children in Uvalde, my father taught me to stand for the pledge of allegiance when I believed my country was representing its people well or to protest and stay seated when it wasn’t. I don’t believe it is representing us well right now.”
He later concluded the post by sharing how he went onto the field for the anthem before the Giants’ game on Wednesday but felt uncomfortable doing so.
“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,” he wrote. “The home of the brave should encourage this.”
Perhaps coincidentally, Kapler’s comments in the aftermath of the shooting follow those of another professional sports team leader from the San Francisco area, as Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr gave an impassioned speech to reporters on Tuesday regarding gun laws.
Kapler, 46, played in the majors off and on from 1998-2010 and has been a manager in two separate stints since 2018, first with the Philadelphia Phillies before joining the Giants in 2020.
He was named National League Manager of the Year in 2021.