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New MLB Manager Immediately Reverses Team's National Anthem Policy

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Editor’s Note: Our readers responded strongly to this story when it originally ran; we’re reposting it here in case you missed it.

Players on the San Francisco Giants baseball team — and anyone else in their dugout — will be required to stand for the national anthem this season.

The new rule has nothing to do with politics or even patriotism, new team manager Bob Melvin told USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.

What it is about, Melvin said, is teamwork, getting everyone out on the field together in a display of unity for everyone to see.

“You want your team ready to play and I want the other team to notice it, too,’” Melvin said. “It’s as simple as that. They’re embracing it.”

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Nightengale noted that Melvin’s position represented a 180-degree difference from the policy under previous manager Gabe Kapler.

After the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Kapler stopped standing on the field for the anthem, he said.

Kapler even knelt during the anthem several times after the 2020 death of George Floyd while in police custody.

“I don’t plan on coming out for the anthem going forward until I feel better about the direction of our country,” Kapler said then, according to the New York Post.

Should all professional athletes stand for the national anthem?

Kapler was fired in late September after having led the Giants to only one postseason showing in four seasons, ESPN reported at the time.

Melvin told Nightengale that it was time to move on from all that and focus on winning baseball games.

“Look, we’re a new team here, we got some good players here,’’ Melvin told him.

“It’s more about letting the other side know that we’re ready to play,” he added. “I want guys out here ready to go. There’s a personality to that. It has nothing to do with whatever happened in the past or whatever, it’s just something I embrace.”

Reaction on social media to Melvin’s decision was largely positive.

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Watch: LSU Football Coach Responds to Kim Mulkey Skipping National Anthem, Says His Team Will 'Stand Proud' for It


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George Upper is the former Editor-in-Chief of The Western Journal and was a weekly co-host of "WJ Live," powered by The Western Journal. He is currently a contributing editor in the areas of faith, politics and culture. A former U.S. Army special operator, teacher and consultant, he is a lifetime member of the NRA and an active volunteer leader in his church. Born in Foxborough, Massachusetts, he has lived most of his life in central North Carolina.
George Upper, is the former editor-in-chief of The Western Journal and is now a contributing editor in the areas of faith, politics and culture. He currently serves as the connections pastor at Awestruck Church in Greensboro, North Carolina. He is a former U.S. Army special operator, teacher, manager and consultant. Born in Massachusetts, he graduated from Foxborough High School before joining the Army and spending most of the next three years at Fort Bragg. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in English as well as a Master's in Business Administration, all from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He and his wife life only a short drive from his three children, their spouses and his grandchildren. He is a lifetime member of the NRA and in his spare time he shoots, reads a lot of Lawrence Block and John D. MacDonald, and watches Bruce Campbell movies. He is a fan of individual freedom, Tommy Bahama, fine-point G-2 pens and the Oxford comma.
Birthplace
Foxborough, Massachusetts
Nationality
American
Honors/Awards
Beta Gamma Sigma
Education
B.A., English, UNCG; M.A., English, UNCG; MBA, UNCG
Location
North Carolina
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
Faith, Business, Leadership and Management, Military, Politics




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