12/20/2023 0 Comments White sox shortstop“It happened the first time he got on and I spared him that time,” Anderson continued to The Chicago Tribune. It was unnecessary.”ĭonaldson was the designated hitter, and after Yankees shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa ended the third inning in the Bronx, Anderson said that’s when Donaldson “made a disrespectful comment.” I wasn’t really going to bother nobody today, but he made the comment and you know it was disrespectful and I don’t think it was called for. “‘What’s up, Jackie?’ I don’t play like that. “Basically he was trying to call me Jackie Robinson,” Anderson said in a postgame media scrum per NBC Sports Chicago. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)Ĭhicago White Sox Shortstop Tim Anderson felt the sting of racism in baseball when New York Yankees third baseman Josh Donaldson called him “Jackie,” as in Robinson. That was evident with the league’s “We Play Loud” marketing campaign that debuted at the start of the 2019 postseason.NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 21: Jose Abreu #79 holds back Tim Anderson #7 of the Chicago White Sox after a benches-clearing dispute between Yasmani Grandal #24 of the Chicago White Sox (not pictured) and Josh Donaldson #28 of the New York Yankees (not pictured) during the fifth inning at Yankee Stadium on in the Bronx borough of New York City. With respect to Anderson and some of today’s younger players, MLB has begun to market them more aggressively and embraced the show of emotion. For instance, former United States President Barack Obama credited Robinson, among other civil rights leaders, for helping create the opportunity for Obama to become the first African-American to ascend to the highest office in the country. Robinson’s career paved the way for thousands more in baseball and beyond. Today, the entire league honors the anniversary of Robinson’s April 15 debut by issuing special game jerseys bearing Robinson’s No. Death threats against him, his family and even fellow Dodgers were constant and have been well-documented. Robinson, of course, received much worse upon his debut for the Brooklyn in 1947, making him the first African-American in the MLB. He hoped topple a “have-fun” hurdle in the same way Robinson broke the color barrier. But it’s cool, man, because he changed the game, and I feel like I’m getting to a point to where I need to change the game.”Įlsewhere in the interview, Anderson criticized MLB’s approach to diversity and said the differing approaches to him from their league office and social media accounts left him confused. “I kind of feel like today’s Jackie Robinson,” he says. Though, MLB claimed the suspension was due to a racial slur that Anderson, who is African-American, yelled at Keller during the brawl.Īnderson himself criticized MLB’s lack of African-American players and drew a parallel to Brooklyn Dodgers legend Jackie Robinson in bringing change to the sport, via Sports Illustrated: Major League Baseball was criticized for how it handled the incident, as the league office suspended Anderson even after its social media platforms enthusiastically shared highlights of his home run and bat flip. One of those celebrations led to Kansas City Royals pitcher Brad Keller throwing at Anderson in his next at-bat.Īnderson charged the mound in retaliation, sparking a bench-clearing brawl that resulted in suspensions for both Anderson and Keller. He emerged as a prolific bat-flipper in 2019, chucking his bat across home plate while watching home runs fly. There of course have been exceptions to that, and among them involved Chicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson. Recent seasons has seen somewhat of a shift to players being able to express themselves more freely without then being the subject of retribution.
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