Gary Sheffield on why only 1 MLB player has knelt during national anthem: âWe donât have an Aliâ
Bruce Maxwell
And even now  itâs only been one player:  Aâs catcher Bruce Maxwell . In an interview with SI.com   Maxwellâs  mom offered this opinion on athletes deciding to take a knee:
I think you canât speak for everyone. Everyone has their own viewpoint  and everyone has their own story. Everyone has their own reason to do what theyâre doingâand all I can do is support  Bruce  for  his  reasoning. Because I know what  he  has gone through  and I know how  he  feels. I know this was a long time coming  but I think the turning point for  him  was when the president was in  his  hometown.
But why just  Maxwell ?
âWhen I was a kid  you had all these guys  athletes like Jim Brown  Muhammad Ali  and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar  following Dr. Martin Luther King. Iâll only speak for baseball  but nowadays  we  donât have an Ali.  We  donât even have the personalities of my generation and the one before me. Baseball has become so soldier-like  bow your head type stuff. In light of all that  for decades MLB players didnât stand for the flag. Youâd have guys in the locker room eating  stretching in the bullpen  sitting in the dugout  players were spread out all over the field. There was no idea of âunity.â Only the Braves and Yankees made it mandatory to stand on the top step of the dugout. That was the only time I even paid attention.
And even now  itâs only been one player:  Aâs catcher  [TGT]  . In an interview with SI.com   Maxwellâs  mom offered this opinion on athletes deciding to take a knee:
I think you canât speak for everyone. Everyone has their own viewpoint  and everyone has their own story. Everyone has their own reason to do what theyâre doingâand all I can do is support  Bruce  for  his  reasoning. Because I know what  he  has gone through  and I know how  he  feels. I know this was a long time coming  but I think the turning point for  him  was when the president was in  his  hometown.
But why just  Maxwell ?
âWhen I was a kid  you had all these guys  athletes like Jim Brown  Muhammad Ali  and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar  following Dr. Martin Luther King. Iâll only speak for baseball  but nowadays  we  donât have an Ali.  We  donât even have the personalities of my generation and the one before me. Baseball has become so soldier-like  bow your head type stuff. In light of all that  for decades MLB players didnât stand for the flag. Youâd have guys in the locker room eating  stretching in the bullpen  sitting in the dugout  players were spread out all over the field. There was no idea of âunity.â Only the Braves and Yankees made it mandatory to stand on the top step of the dugout. That was the only time I even paid attention.