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‘I Would Never Not Stand Up!’: Baseball Legend Scorches San Fran’s Kapler Over National Anthem Protest

   DailyWire.com
CHICAGO - APRIL 12: Manager Tony La Russa #22 of the Chicago White Sox looks on during the National Anthem prior to the game against the Seattle Mariners during Opening Day on April 12, 2022 at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Ron Vesely/Getty Images)
Ron Vesely/Getty Images

Legendary Major League Baseball manager Tony La Russa called out his San Francisco counterpart Gabe Kapler over the latter’s plans to boycott the national anthem in the wake of the school shooting that took place Tuesday in Uvalde, Texas.

La Russa, who currently manages the Chicago White Sox, argued that while he agreed with the Giants’ skipper when it came to the issue of gun violence, he believed that during the national anthem was the wrong time to express his opinion.

“Where I disagree is that the flag and the anthem are not appropriate places to try to voice your objection. I think you go directly to what the cause that really bothers you about the direction of the country is,” La Russa said on Saturday.

“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,” La Russa continued.

“I would never not stand up for the anthem or the flag. Maybe just because I’m older, and I’ve been around veterans more than the average person,” he added, arguing that standing for the flag and for the national anthem was not something he did for himself but something he did for those who had sacrificed for him under that flag.

“Some of their courage comes from what the flag means to them and when they hear the anthem. You need to understand what the veterans think when they hear the anthem or see the flag. And the cost they paid and their families. And if you truly understand that, I think it’s impossible not to salute the flag and listen to the anthem,” he said.

Kapler announced on Friday that he did not plan to participate in the traditional pregame observance of the national anthem until until he felt “better about the direction” he believed the United States was heading as a nation.

“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,” he said in an essay published Friday.

“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.  don’t believe it is representing us well right now,” he said.

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