Before there was Colin Kaepernick sitting and kneeling during the national anthem, before there was backlash -- and backlash from the backlash -- and long before talk simmered of how Major League Baseball wouldn't provide be the best forum for social protest, there was Toronto Blue Jays slugger Carlos Delgado, sitting in the dugout during "God Bless America."
Twelve years ago, Delgado quietly remained in the dugout during the seventh inning of 2004 games while the song was played as had become tradition across the league after 9/11.
Delgado, speaking in an interview published by Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Día over the weekend, said he knows to some degree what Kaepernick is going through and that he doesn't think the San Francisco 49ers quarterback "is refusing to stand for the national anthem.