Oakland Athletics utility man Mark Canha regrets not kneeling in protest three years ago alongside former teammate Bruce Maxwell.
In 2017, Maxwell became the first Major League Baseball player to take a knee during the national anthem in protest of police brutality and racial injustice. Canha stood with his hand on Maxwell's shoulder in a display of solidarity.
"I kind of felt the same way as Bruce, but I give credit to Bruce in having the courage to do it," Canha told Hannah Keyser of Yahoo Sports. "There's a lot of reasons I didn't kneel. Sometimes I wish that I had knelt."
He added: "Every part of me was telling me that I need to be connected to this and I need to show my support and that it was important."
The 31-year-old echoes the message of Delino DeShields Jr., who also said he regrets not kneeling with Maxwell as he watched the protest from the opposing dugout.
Canha wants to see baseball play a more active role in social justice initiatives. He applauded MLB teams for issuing statements of solidarity against racism.
However, he called on the league to directly address the issue of kneeling during the anthem. Canha said players will shy away from participating until MLB makes its position known.
"Absolutely. I'd welcome it," Canha said about the possibility of more baseball players kneeling in 2020. "This is a constitutional right we're talking about. We're talking about free speech, freedom to protest. This is absolutely something that cannot be discouraged or condemned. It's your constitutional right, and you have every right to do so.
"I think we'll look back at Bruce Maxwell and say he got a lot of criticism for that and a lot of blowback on social media and such, and (the criticism) was wrong."
