When A's catcher Bruce Maxwell knelt during the anthem last season, he was the first MLB player to do so. He knelt before each of each of Oakland's final nine games, in order to protest racial inequality and in response to President Trump's incendiary comments about NFL players kneeling, but ended the season as the only MLB player to kneel during the anthem.
This season, he won't kneel at all, he told reporters in a statement on the first day of spring training.
Bruce Maxwell's statement: pic.twitter.com/NBkvIQwTNj— Jane Lee (@JaneMLB) February 13, 2018
"Obviously, I didn't take that lightly," Maxwell told the San Francisco Chronicle prior to the release of his statement. "That was to bring awareness to a problem and the face we do see it, we do experience and we have empathy for what's going on. This year I don't plan on kneeling. … And we'll move on forward."
While Maxwell did address his protest during the anthem, he largely did not address his offseason legal issues.
"It's ongoing, I can't really discuss details," he said. "It's something me and my lawyers are handling."
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On Oct. 28, Maxwell was arrested in Scottsdale after allegedly pointing a gun at a food-delivery person. He pleaded not guilty to felony charges of aggravated assault and disorderly conduct in November, and is set for a settlement conference on April 13 after failing to reach a plea agreement on Monday, according to the Chronicle.
If an agreement cannot be reached, Maxwell's trial is set to begin on Aug. 9.
