Good morning, Athletics Nation!
When he was on the Oakland A’s in 2017, catcher Bruce Maxwell became the first (and still only) MLB player to kneel in protest during the pregame national anthem. He was following the lead of NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, making a peaceful statement against police brutality toward the black community.
At the time of Maxwell’s protest, the A’s released a statement supporting his “constitutional rights and freedom of expression.” However, not everyone agreed with him, and in an interview with Susan Slusser of the S.F. Chronicle on Wednesday he talks about the blowback and death threats he received.