4 Cincinnati Reds players, including former NL MVP Joey Votto, kneel during national anthem
Four Cincinnati Reds players, Joey Votto, Amir Garrett, Phillip Ervin and Alex Blandino, took a knee during the national anthem prior to Tuesday’s exhibition game at Great American Ball Park.
The players lined up together alongside the first-base line, from left, Ervin, Votto, Garrett and Blandino. Mike Moustakas put his left hand on Ervin’s shoulder. Cody Reed put his hand on Garrett’s shoulder and Sal Romano put his hand on Blandino’s back. Manager David Bell stood alongside the players taking a knee, next to Blandino.
“This is a group of people of players, coaches and staff that are extremely respectful and that are constantly looking to do the right thing,” Bell said in a post-game interview. “I know this situation is personal. It’s emotional for all of us. I wanted them to know that they had my support.”
Several Reds players – including Votto, Garrett, Ervin and Moustakas – have worn Black Lives Matters shirts during workouts in preseason camp. Garrett and Ervin are the team’s only African-American players.
Before reporting to camp, Garrett wrote on Twitter, “I will use my platform in sports to bring awareness to what is going wrong with our country.” He said afterward that he wished he did more when Colin Kaepernick took a knee in 2016 and when Oakland A’s catcher Bruce Maxwell did the same in 2017. Maxwell was the only MLB player to take a knee prior to this week.
“No matter how you twist this story, my intentions today were based solely on wanting change throughout this country,” Garrett wrote on Twitter following the game. “I know my threat will be filled with ‘lost fans,’ but I’m hopeful for the younger generation to see through the lost message.
“If I still have your attention, know that I fully support the military. It’s a shame this shown as a sign of disrespect as the leader of this movement was advised by a Veteran to kneel instead of sit. As much as some of you think your opinion on my choices affects me, this isn’t me using my platform to push my political opinion nor is it to show my support in the BLM organization (which they do not have).”
Votto wrote an op-ed in The Enquirer in June titled “My Awakening” after George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer. He wrote: “Only now am I just beginning to hear. I am awakening to their pain, and my ignorance. No longer will I be silent.”
When players began lining up for the anthem, Votto moved to a spot near Ervin and then the four players took the knee together when the anthem began.
“It’s certainly a contentious subject,” Votto said before Tuesday’s game, “but I wrote the op-ed and I wore the shirt because I feel like it’s pretty simply a human rights issue.”
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Several San Francisco Giants players and coaches, along with manager Gabe Kapler, took a knee prior to their exhibition game against the Oakland A’s on Monday. The league’s official Twitter account responded to a tweet that said it was a lack of respect with “it has never been about the military or the flag. The players and coaches are using their platforms to peacefully protest.”
Los Angeles Angels reliever Keynan Middleton took a knee and held his right fist in the air Monday.
“It’s crazy to me how clear this subject is,” Votto said earlier this month. “I’m not a real big right-or-wrong, good-or-evil, type of person. I don’t really see the world in that way, but man, it just feels right and wrong. I felt obligated to say something and I feel like I’ve changed as a man. I feel like my perspective has changed.
“We have the very same issue back home in Canada, the very same issue. We can contextualize it. We can create ratios. We can minimize it, but there is no way we can deny that it isn’t the same issue with our First Nations and certainly the Black community in Canada.
“I’m here in the U.S. I’m always apprehensive about overstepping my boundaries. I think you could sense that in what I wrote. At the same time, I feel very much at home here. I’ve been here a long time. I care deeply about the people that I’ve worked with that are Black.”
