Bleacher Report · Jun 9, 2020
Delino DeShields: 'I Felt Like a Sellout' for Not Kneeling with Bruce Maxwell
Cleveland Indians outfielder Delino DeShields said Monday he regrets not taking a knee during the national anthem after being asked to by then-Oakland Athletics catcher Bruce Maxwell in 2017.
DeShields, who was with the Texas Rangers at the time, received a call from Maxwell saying he was going to become the first MLB player to protest during the anthem as part of a movement started by San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, and he asked DeShields if he wanted to join.
"I felt like a sellout," he told ESPN's Joon Lee. "I always felt like I should've been out there with him, and now he's not even in the league no more. He's out in Mexico playing. It just sucks that happened to him."