BIOGRAPHY
Bruce Maxwell was born December 20, 1990, in Wiesbaden, Germany. He is a catcher in the MLB.
The Oakland Athletics selected Maxwell in the second round of the 2012 Major League Baseball draft. He made his debut that year with the AZL Athletics, and was promoted to the Vermont Lake Monsters of the Class A-Short Season New York-Pennsylvania League after six games. For Vermont, he batted .254 with 22 RBIs and was charged with 18 passed balls in 38 games. In 2013, playing for both the Beloit Snappers in the Class A Midwest League and the Stockton Ports in the Class A-Advanced California League, he was charged with 17 passed balls. He caught 16% of attempted base-stealers, as runners stole 103 bases against him while he caught 19, in 83 games. He batted .275 with seven home runs and 49 RBIs in 104 games between both teams.
In 2014, Maxwell batted .243/.334/.334 between Stockton and the Midland RockHounds of the Class AA Texas League, as he gave up 19 passed balls in 102 games. In 2015, he spent the whole season at Midland, batting .243/.321/.308 in 96 games.
On September 23, 2017, Maxwell became the first MLB player to join other US athletes protesting racial injustice by kneeling during the national anthem; Maxwell placed his hand over his heart, and teammate Mark Canha stood next to Maxwell and put a hand on his shoulder in support. Maxwell's actions came in response to President Donald Trump's comments that professional football franchise owners should fire players who knelt during the anthem. On Twitter and through his agent, Maxwell said his decision to kneel represented concern for racial injustice as well as freedom of speech and exercise of peaceful protest. The Oakland Athletics immediately issued a statement saying the team "pride[s] ourselves on being inclusive" and supports "players' constitutional rights and freedom of expression." While supported by the A's, Maxwell's future career in the MLB was seen as impacted by the reaction to his kneeling. He remained the only MLB player to protest by kneeling until 2020, when the league allowed for "Black Lives Matter" patches and organized league-wide kneeling for social justice in the aftermath of the nationwide protests of the death of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis.
