Tre Jones III, an outfielder for Texas A&M Corpus Christi’s baseball team, fired up the crowd at Chapman Field in Corpus Christi with his rendition of the National Anthem. He performed “The Star-Spangled Banner” on Saturday afternoon, Senior Day.
Jones, for his performance, played the anthem on an electric guitar and had a solo at the end of his performance. Upon finishing his rendition of the anthem, he then received a massive round of applause from the audience. Watch Jones here:
Let's play some baseball!@tre__jones with the special Senior Day treat of playing the National Anthem on his home field! 🎸🇺🇸#ShakasUp x 📺 https://t.co/KoK5FPQikr pic.twitter.com/z8MlkuiRrl
— Islanders Baseball (@IslandersBSB) May 20, 2023
Jones followed his anthem performance with an ok, 3-for-4 day at the plate. Unfortunately, his team, the Islanders, lost 5-1, ending their regular season. During the regular season, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi finished 17-13 at home in 2023 and 24-29 overall. They will begin the Southland Conference Tournament against McNeese State on Tuesday.
Jones, a junior finished the season hitting .318. That includes 61 hits, eight doubles, five triples, six home runs, and 37 runs scored over 52 games for Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the 2023 season. Jones, originally from Houston, TX, was named to the All-Southland Conference First Team in 2022 as a designated hitter. He led the team in slugging percentage at the time with .743.
The Texas baseball game wasn’t the only game where the National Anthem was played in a newsworthy way recently. It also came up when repatriated WNBA player Brittney Griner heard it and said it “hit different,” as we reported on The American Tribune, saying:
Back in the summer of 2020, Griner shared a view common among Black Lives Matter that the anthem was rooted in racism. “I honestly feel we should not play the national anthem during our season,” Griner said during an interview in July of that summer. “I think we should take that much of a stand.”
“I’m going to protest regardless,” she added. “I’m not going to be out there for the national anthem. If the league continues to want to play it, that’s fine. It will be all season long, I’ll not be out there. I feel like more are going to probably do the same thing. I can only speak for myself.”
What a difference a few years and foreign prison stint can do for a person. Now, having felt the true sting of an actually harsh criminal justice system and perhaps realizing her wonderful blessings at home, replete with the right to partake in nominally illicit drugs without penalty and make far more money playing a sport nobody watches, Griner is turning heads with her maturation.
Indeed, she is sounding more and more like her former conservative detractors who felt little pity for what they saw as an entitled brat.
“Hearing the national anthem, it definitely hit different,” Griner said. “It’s like when you go for the Olympics, you’re sitting there, about to get gold put on your neck, the flags are going up, and the anthem is playing, it just hits different. “Being here today … it means a lot.”
“We looked at each other, and we just had chills,” Mercury coach Vanessa Nygaard said. “We were here last year for all of it. I’m getting emotional about it now. Just to see her back out there — it’s an absolute miracle. It was amazing. It’s giving me chills again.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
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