The new manager of the San Francisco Giants has immediately reversed the team’s “woke” policy on protesting the national anthem.
Players on the San Francisco Giants baseball team will be required to stand for the national anthem this season.
The rule also includes anyone else in the team’s dugout.
However, new team manager Bob Melvin told USA Today that the new rule has nothing to do with politics or even patriotism.
Melvin said the change is about promoting 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.”
USA Today’s Bob 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 fentanyl overdose 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 at the time, according to the New York Post.
After leading the Giants to only one postseason showing in four seasons, Kapler was fired in late September, 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.
About time this is such a distraction to the game. Just play baseball
— Gianni, Spokeperson for None of These (@giannipov) March 4, 2024
As it should be, ohmigosh.
— Randi Novak (@rnovak1111) March 4, 2024
@StevenACohen2 needs to make this Mets policy. Last couple games I went to in September only 5-10 players could be bothered to come out of the clubhouse for the anthem. Change the culture.
— Sean (@SLCDmac98) March 4, 2024
On March 28, the Giants will play their first game of the season in San Diego against the Padres.
