Mets slugger Dominic Smith doesn’t care if white teammates join him in kneeling for the national anthem. He said he doesn’t need them to cut a check to his charity, either.
“If you give your time, that’s the only way we can change,” he said.
To kind of see those things happen very fast, it wasn’t really a thought over here,” Smith said. “But that’s why I decided to take a knee tonight.
“I’ve been very emotional. Just to kind of see this continuously happen, I mean, it was a long day for me. Kind of wasn’t there mentally.
“I think the most difficult part is to see people still don’t care. For this to just continuously happen, it just shows the hate in people’s heart. That just sucks, you know? Black men in America, it’s not easy. Like I said, I just wasn’t there today, but I’ll bounce back, I’ll be fine.”
The report mentions that Dom did not tell his teammates ahead of time of his intention. Michael Confroto is referenced as saying he would not have knelt himself.
Dom is also quoted saying “Money is just material things, I didn’t grow up with money,” adding that “doesn’t mean nothing to me.”
“If you can give your time, that’s the thing that matters, that’s why I feel so emotional about it, because people give their money, they leave. Can’t do that. You have to be there for the children that are coming up after.”
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I do want to point out that the Mets tend to part ways with players who attract attention. It will not surprise me at all if the Mets trade Dom this off-season – which may even make sense using my Trade High philosophy – as they seem committed to Pete Alonso at first base.
