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Chicago White Sox manager understanding of decision to kneel for anthem

All Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals players and staff stood for the national anthem and God Bless America Sunday at Guaranteed Rate Field.

That is news, considering Oakland A's rookie catcher Bruce Maxwell knelt for the anthem on Saturday and Sunday.

Maxwell was born in Germany, where his father was stationed in the United States Army. His decision was based on President Donald Trump's call for NFL owners to fire any player who chose to kneel for the national anthem.

"How would I handle it?" White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. "All I will speak to is what Bruce Maxwell did. You empathize and understand exactly why he's doing what he's doing. I think baseball in general, they've made a wide statement of how we want the game of baseball to include everybody, basically, and support everybody."

Take a break:

A day after reaching 100 RBI, banged-up first baseman Jose Abreu was held out of Sunday's game against the Royals.

Abreu knocked in a pair of runs in Saturday night's, joining Joe DiMaggio and Albert Pujols as the only players in major-league history to have 25-plus home runs and 100-plus RBI in each of their first four seasons.

Abreu fouled a ball off his left shin last week and was playing in pain.

"Not very good, but I have to keep pushing," Abreu said through an interpreter. "Especially for this organization because just the things that this organization has done for me, this organization was the one who made possible my mom's dream to see me play in the majors."

Need for netting:

The White Sox are one of 16 major-league teams that don't have - or have yet to announce plans to add - extended protective netting.

There's been a call for all teams to add the safety measure after ex-White Sox third baseman Todd Frazier lined a ball into the stands at Yankee Stadium last Wednesday. A 2-year-old girl was hit in the face by the drive, which was clocked at 105 mph.

A woman was reportedly hit in the mouth by a Brandon Moss foul ball in Friday night's Sox-Royals game at Guaranteed Rate Field. According to the White Sox, she refused treatment.

In Sunday's game at Guaranteed Rate Field, a young boy was hit by a foul ball off the bat of Kansas City's Whit Merrifield in the third inning. He walked off under his own power and, according to the Sox, was moved to a luxury suite and eating ice cream later in the game.

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