In 2017, then-Oakland Athletics catcher Bruce Maxwell took a knee during the playing of the national anthem in solidarity with former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who did so a year prior as a protest against racial discrimination and police brutality. He was the first MLB player to do so.
On Wednesday, he called out MLB for waiting nine days to make any sort of statement following the killing of George Floyd, who had his neck kneeled on for nearly nine minutes by since-fired and arrested Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin during Floyd's arrest.