MLB honors 30th anniversary of Rick Monday flag incident

[TheMightyFavog]

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060424&content_id=1415977&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc

On April 25, the Chicago Cubs were visiting Dodger Stadium for a three-game series. Playing center field for the Cubs was Rick Monday, the first player taken in the amateur draft that was created 11 years earlier. Monday was born and raised in Santa Monica, Calif., so playing in front of his friends and family was always special to him. On this day, fate would hand Monday a moment that people still talk about with reverence 30 years later. Monday recounts the moment in his own words.

(snip)

"When these two guys ran on the field, something wasn't right. And it wasn't right from the standpoint that one of them had something cradled under his arm. It turned out to be an American flag. They came from the left-field corner, went past Cardenal to shallow left-center field.

"That's when I saw the flag. They unfurled it as if it was a picnic blanket. They knelt beside it, not to pay homage but to harm it as one of the guys was pulling out of his pocket somewhere a big can of lighter fluid. He began to douse it.

"What they were doing was wrong then, in 1976. In my mind, it's wrong now, in 2006. It's the way I was raised. My thoughts were reinforced with my six years in the Marine Corp Reserves. It was also reinforced by a lot of friends who lost their lives protecting the rights and freedoms that flag represented.

Yeah, you may think it's wrong, but it's still protected free speech, buddy.

[LiberalInGeorgia2005]

1. Not protected on other's property

How did the owner of the Dodgers at the time view it?

[Warpy]

2. Few flags were burnt at demonstrations in the 60s

and early 70s because those of us with brains realized what a stupid and counterproductive demonstration it was and managed to keep most of the hotheads from doing it.

The only times I'd approve of burning an American flag are during the proper disposal of a damaged flag and when it's tightly wrapped around some right wing hypocrite.

Other than that, it's a stupid idea. Let's hope the right wing picks it up. They've been a magnet for stupid ideas.

[theboss]

3. Monday handled it correclty

He grab the flag and ran ahead. If Lasorda (who was a Dodgers' third base coach at the time) had gotten their first, he may have attacked the guy.

The man who burned the flag was probably mentally ill. He was protesting - in his words - his wife's confinement at a mental hospital.

I just thank God there wasn't 24 hour news then. This would have been the lead story for three months.