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New York Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay appeared to take issue with “putting sports in the flag” as Team USA’s stars preached patriotism at the World Baseball Classic this month.
Paul Skenes, Bryce Harper and Aaron Judge were among the players who discussed what it meant to carry the United States on their chest. Team USA manager Mark DeRosa even brought Robert J. O’Neill, the man credited with killing terrorist Osama bin Laden, into the locker room to speak to the players before their quarterfinal match against Canada.
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Michael Kay during New York Yankees Old Timers Day on August 24, 2024, at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. (Andrew Mordzynski/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Kay said this sort of thing made him “a little uncomfortable.”
“Which makes me a little uncomfortable…I don’t like wrapping sports in the flag and preaching patriotism and bringing in members of SEAL Team 6. The only uniform that matters to me is the one worn by the men and women of our military,” he said Wednesday on ESPN New York radio. “They decide victories and defeats. You don’t represent me because you have the United States on your chest. I don’t believe it.”
Sports columnist Mike Lupica, who was with Kay, said bringing in a member of SEAL Team 6 was “a little questionable” for him and added that any time politics is introduced into sports, it opens a “rabbit hole that we don’t want to go down.”
DeRosa explained earlier in the week why he brought in O’Neill.
United States Bryce Harper celebrates after hitting a two-run home run in the eighth inning of the World Baseball Classic championship game against Venezuela, Tuesday, March 17, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
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“It was my decision to bring him in,” DeRosa said via Defector. “Actually, he was brought to Houston for a few days. It wasn’t before the Canada game. I think for me there has to be… you never want it to be lost on the reason why you’re doing this. Whatever that reason is, a lot of people, like Paul Skenes, said to me when he signed up for this, ‘I want to do this for every service man and woman who protects our freedom. That’s why we carry the United States on our chest.”
“I just thought it would be a time to reorient ourselves and make these guys understand that even though it’s an incredible event and you get to share a locker room with the greats of the game, there’s a reason why you do it and a reason why people protect our freedom at night. I just wanted to honor that.”
Kay made similar comments about the hype of players representing their country with fervent patriotism and doing more than they are. He said he did not believe “the international competition is a referendum on my country.”
United States pitcher Paul Skenes (30) delivers a pitch against the Dominican Republic during a semifinal game of the 2026 World Baseball Classic at LoanDepot Park on March 15, 2026. (Sam Navarro/Imagn Images)
“There are people who represent the United States who truly represent the United States, and you know who those people are? The men and women of the military,” he said via Awful Announcing. “That’s what it all comes down to. They are the ones who decide how great this country is. Their courage, the way they fight for freedom and risk their lives – that’s important to me. The United States wins the gold medal against Canada? Wonderful. Happy for them. It’s not a referendum on my country, it just isn’t one.
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“But somehow we made my country better than yours – stop. Come on. Aren’t we getting a little absurd with this chauvinism stuff? … I’m glad everyone was brought in. Mark DeRosa brought in one of the Navy SEAL guys who was in the group that killed Osama bin Laden. OK, whatever motivates people… but to equate a baseball game to that, I don’t know.”
