A's Canha: 'I'm not going to stop' standing with Maxwell during anthem
Mark Canha didn't kneel for the national anthem on Saturday night in Oakland, but he did make his support for his Athletics teammate Bruce Maxwell fully known by placing a hand on Maxwell's shoulder as he became the first baseball player to take a knee.
On Sunday, according to The Associated Press, Canha stood with his hand on a kneeling Maxwell's shoulder during "The Star-Spangled Banner" once again. Although he's choosing not to take a knee himself, Canha announced Sunday that he'll continue to stand with a hand on Maxwell's shoulder during the anthem for the balance of this season.
"I did it once. I'm not going to stop doing it," Canha told John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle. "I'm not going to kneel. That's Bruce's thing and anyone else's thing who wants to do that. I decided I'm not going to do that, but I want to show my support for my teammate. I don't want him to feel like he's an outsider on this team.
"When you're on a team, nobody should feel like an outsider. Everyone should feel like they're together. That's the right thing for the team to be, and that's the right thing for this country to be, is together."
Related - Maxwell means no disrespect: I'm kneeling for those who 'don't have a voice'
Canha, a Bay Area native who also played his NCAA baseball just down the road from Oakland at the University of California, Berkeley, also praised Maxwell for his handling of the situation and how he informed teammates of his plans to kneel in an open forum before Saturday's game.
While he wasn't surprised that it took this long for a baseball player to take a knee in protest given the sport's "unwritten rules," Canha added he hopes Maxwell's actions will move others in baseball to begin expressing themselves more openly - be it through kneeling in protest or through other means of communication.
"I think people are a little bit hesitant to speak their minds all the time, which I think is kind of a disappointing part of baseball," Canha explained. "I think people should be able to express themselves, have fun on the field, celebrate how they want to celebrate, express their political beliefs if they want to do. That's what this country was founded upon, the idea that people should be able to do that, 200-and-whatever years ago.
"People love playing this game and love their jobs in this game, and there's this idea to want to hold onto it so badly and not want to rock the boat. That's not what the founding fathers had in mind."