The only player who didn’t kneel before Thursday’s major league baseball game between the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers says he didn’t because he disagrees with some of the things the Black Lives Matter (BLM) represents – and because he only kneels in reverence before God.
Giants relief pitcher Sam Coonrod said after the game that he rejects BLM’s Marxist ideals and contempt for the nuclear family, NBC Sports reports:
Every player and coach from both teams took a knee before the anthem and held a long piece of black fabric in a moment of unity, with the exception of one.
The outlier was Sam Coonrod, a second-year Giants reliever who said after the game that he is a Christian and "can't kneel before anything besides God." He also said he does not agree with some of what he has heard about the Black Lives Matter movement.
"I'm a Christian, like I said, and I just can't get on board with a couple of things that I have read about Black Lives Matter," Coonrod said. "How they lean toward Marxism and they've said some negative things about the nuclear family. I just can't get on board with that."
Coonrod said he “meant no ill will” by his action:
"I'm a Christian. I just believe I can't kneel before anything besides God -- Jesus Christ.”
Read full NBC Sports story.