The Mets agreed to a minor league deal with wide receiver Bruce Maxwell, the only major league player to kneel during the national anthem before this season, sources said Tuesday.
Maxwell arrived in New York on Monday. His contract is pending a physical exam and he passed the coronavirus intake test that all players passed at the beginning of camp earlier this month.
This is Maxwell's first job in affiliate baseball since the end of the 2018 season when the Athletics cut him.
He is best known for having knelt during the presentation of "The Star-Spangled Banner" before the A games in September 2017 as a way to protest against racial injustice. That happened a year after the San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, his fellow professional Bay Area athlete, did.
Maxwell, who is black and whose father is a United States military veteran, was a 26-year-old rookie.
"The point of kneeling down is not to disrespect our army," Maxwell told reporters on September 23, 2017, the first day he knelt down. "It is not disrespecting our Constitution. It is not disrespecting our country."
My hand was on my heart because I love this country. I have had many family members, including my father, who have bled to death in this country, who continue to serve this country. At the end of the day, this is the best country on the planet. "
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