Former Major League Baseball star Jim Edmonds isn’t one to take patriotism lightly. And as he told Tomi Lahren in a new interview, he wouldn’t tolerate any disrespect toward the United States had it occurred in one of his clubhouses.
Edmonds played in the big leagues for 17 seasons, developing a reputation as one of the best defensive center fielders baseball’s ever seen. He won an astonishing eight Gold Gloves, made four All-Star teams and hit nearly 400 home runs during his career.
But as he told Lahren, it wasn’t just his production on the field that mattered to him, it was showing respect for the U.S. National Anthem and the American flag.
Lahren and Edmonds discussed whether baseball has become more “political,” and how players and society treated the summer of 2020 and George Floyd protests.
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Edmonds addressed it by saying things have changed a bit, by flipping the conversation around to his personal beliefs.
“Well, I think that people have figured out that it’s great to do that in recognition of those people, but you’re also supposed to be recognizing, let’s say from my beliefs, the National Anthem.
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“There’s a reason we play the National Anthem every day. There’s a reason why we stand up and salute. It’s no different than when you see President Trump and the Army walking by. They’re saluting each other. That’s what we do, that’s what we’re taught. I don’t really have any leeway for that.”
Edmonds brought up that when he was captain of a baseball team, if someone behaved like Colin Kaepernick in his clubhouse, there’d have been a conversation.
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“When I was supposed to be like the captain, if someone was doing that on our team, which we never had anything like that, I would present myself and say, ‘Hey, what’s going on? You need to continue the education on why we’re standing. I understand what you’re trying to do, but what are we really doing?'”
Thankfully, baseball isn’t nearly as extreme as some other sports when it comes to politicized gestures. But it’s still refreshing to hear a professional athlete say that there’s a reason we’re allowed to play and enjoy sporting events as recreation and leisure. That taking it for granted is bad, actually, and shouldn’t be celebrated. If only some other prominent athletes felt the same way.