Giants’ Kapler refusing to take field for anthem in protest

CINCINNATI — San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler said Friday he will refuse to take the field for the national anthem in a protest over the nation’s political direction following this week’s school shooting in Texas. “I don’t plan on coming out for the anthem going forward until I feel better about the direction of our country,” Kapler said before a series opener at Cincinnati. Kapler said that on the day of the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, “I knew that I was not in my best place mentally and I knew that it was in connection with some of the hypocrisies for the national anthem and how it coincided with the moment of silence and how two things didn’t synch up well for me, but I couldn’t make sense of it in real time and it took me a couple of days to pull all my thoughts together.” Only seven Giants were on the field — two coaches in front of the dugout, four players along left-field line and an athletic trainer standing alongside them — when “The Star-Spangled Banner” was played before Kapler and Reds manager David Bell exchanged lineup cards. “But we weren’t given bravery, and we aren’t free.. We aren’t free when politicians decide that the lobbyist and gun industries are more important than our children’s freedom to go to school without needing bulletproof backpacks and active shooter drills.” Kapler went on the write: “Every time I place my hand over my heart and remove my hat, I’m participating in a self congratulatory glorification of the only country where these mass shootings take place.