Baltimore Orioles center fielder Adam Jones, while defending San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick‘s national anthem protest, said he didn’t think it would spread to baseball because of demographics.
“Baseball is a white man’s sport,” Jones told USA Today. “In football, you can’t kick them out. You need those players. In baseball, they don’t need us.”
Kaepernick’s refusal to stand during the national anthem in a preseason game as a symbol of protesting racial injustice and social inequality has garnered support throughout the sports world, primarily in the NFL.
Jones used a baseball metaphor to explain why African-American players in his sport will be reluctant to follow Kaepernick’s lead.
“We already have two strikes against us already,” Jones said, “so you might as well not kick yourself out of the game.”
Although Orioles manager Buck Showalter supports his players’ right to speak out, Jones said he will continue to stand for the anthem because his father is a longtime military man.
“There’s going to be backlash, of course there is,” Jones said. “Because people don’t like the truth.”