So, the Yankees’ Josh
Donaldson was suspended for one game—yes, one game—for his actions.
There was a supposed fine attached to it, but the dollar figure was not released.
Since the suspension was for just one game, it falls into line as to what Major League Baseball usually doles out to players who instigate bench-clearing skirmishes, as there were two of them during Saturday’s game, at least one of them set off by him, another by what a White Sox player said to him as he stepped into the batter’s box.
There are two complications here: one, Donaldson was put on the COVID list yesterday, so he won’t be playing for a few games anyway; second, he has appealed the punishment.
Major League Baseball did not use the word “racist” in its statement, so even though Donaldson’s words, calling the White Sox’s Tim Anderson “Jackie” on more than one occasion, could be construed as being "racist," the game is not looking at it as a “racist” incident, but simply a misguided one that cleared the benches twice on Saturday afternoon.
Thus, the feeling is that Major League Baseball pretty much believed Donaldson’s explanation about the term “Jackie” being first a reference to a chuckle between him and Anderson … but then Anderson had an epiphany, and found that it wasn’t funny at all, even though Donaldson didn’t know that Anderson would now be offended by the use of the term.
Look, both Anderson and Donaldson are instigators, as well as being very good players. They have histories of saying and doing things that rub people the wrong way.
But when it gets into race—even if it lightly touches the subject—people are going to get ultra-upset. My hunch is that if the shoe was on the other foot—and perhaps Anderson called Donaldson a “Mickey” or something attuned to the Yankee player’s heritage—that baseball would not look glowingly on that comment either.
But this is an era when baseball has to compete with football and basketball for the black market, and the sport has kind of fallen out of favor with black athletes.
The instant payback for being chosen by a pro football or basketball team is enormous, compared to being drafted by a baseball team and having to work your way up from the minor leagues.
Tim Anderson is one of the faces of baseball, as is Aaron Judge of the Yankees. They are the faces that baseball wants to lead the sport to become attractive for young blacks again, and add in such players as Steve Trout and Shohe Otami, and these are the players that the game needs to lead them to the next level of attracting ALL young athletes to the game, black, white, yellow and brown.
Whether Major League Baseball believed Donaldson or not—I think that they did believe what he said, so the punishment was minor—you cannot soil what the future plan is for the game as it moves forward in any way, shape or form, and to do it with even a touch of what can be construed as racism defeats the purpose.
Donaldson, even though he may have been a victim of circumstance, but of his own creation to a certain extent, should just accept the punishment and move on, but for some reason has chosen not to, so this thing extends further.
He is not going to win or lessen what has been doled out to him—I could almost see it if he was suspended for multiple games, as an appeal is a common practice among players who have been suspended at great length—but we are talking about one single game here.
We do not know the numbers of the fine, and perhaps that is what the crux of his argument is, but whatever the case, he should just serve the suspension, pay the fine, and not open up his mouth again about “Jackie.”
There was a supposed fine attached to it, but the dollar figure was not released.
Since the suspension was for just one game, it falls into line as to what Major League Baseball usually doles out to players who instigate bench-clearing skirmishes, as there were two of them during Saturday’s game, at least one of them set off by him, another by what a White Sox player said to him as he stepped into the batter’s box.
There are two complications here: one, Donaldson was put on the COVID list yesterday, so he won’t be playing for a few games anyway; second, he has appealed the punishment.
Major League Baseball did not use the word “racist” in its statement, so even though Donaldson’s words, calling the White Sox’s Tim Anderson “Jackie” on more than one occasion, could be construed as being "racist," the game is not looking at it as a “racist” incident, but simply a misguided one that cleared the benches twice on Saturday afternoon.
Thus, the feeling is that Major League Baseball pretty much believed Donaldson’s explanation about the term “Jackie” being first a reference to a chuckle between him and Anderson … but then Anderson had an epiphany, and found that it wasn’t funny at all, even though Donaldson didn’t know that Anderson would now be offended by the use of the term.
Look, both Anderson and Donaldson are instigators, as well as being very good players. They have histories of saying and doing things that rub people the wrong way.
But when it gets into race—even if it lightly touches the subject—people are going to get ultra-upset. My hunch is that if the shoe was on the other foot—and perhaps Anderson called Donaldson a “Mickey” or something attuned to the Yankee player’s heritage—that baseball would not look glowingly on that comment either.
But this is an era when baseball has to compete with football and basketball for the black market, and the sport has kind of fallen out of favor with black athletes.
The instant payback for being chosen by a pro football or basketball team is enormous, compared to being drafted by a baseball team and having to work your way up from the minor leagues.
Tim Anderson is one of the faces of baseball, as is Aaron Judge of the Yankees. They are the faces that baseball wants to lead the sport to become attractive for young blacks again, and add in such players as Steve Trout and Shohe Otami, and these are the players that the game needs to lead them to the next level of attracting ALL young athletes to the game, black, white, yellow and brown.
Whether Major League Baseball believed Donaldson or not—I think that they did believe what he said, so the punishment was minor—you cannot soil what the future plan is for the game as it moves forward in any way, shape or form, and to do it with even a touch of what can be construed as racism defeats the purpose.
Donaldson, even though he may have been a victim of circumstance, but of his own creation to a certain extent, should just accept the punishment and move on, but for some reason has chosen not to, so this thing extends further.
He is not going to win or lessen what has been doled out to him—I could almost see it if he was suspended for multiple games, as an appeal is a common practice among players who have been suspended at great length—but we are talking about one single game here.
We do not know the numbers of the fine, and perhaps that is what the crux of his argument is, but whatever the case, he should just serve the suspension, pay the fine, and not open up his mouth again about “Jackie.”
x x x
I guess I could end this
Rant right here and now, but even though I don’t have a good sequeway for what
I am going to follow with, I am going to fill out today’s entry with the following story, as
sort of a “fiction follows truth” mention.
Every once in a while, I watch “The Donna Reed Show,” one of the all-time-great family sitcoms starring the actress and a good cast of other players which currently runs on the Decades channel.
Honestly, I usually don’t have time to watch it, but the way yesterday worked out, I was able to take in two episodes of the show.
Although the show is somewhat dated, one of yesterday’s shows, with a throwaway line, made itself very current.
The show was about the use of the word “housewife” back more than 60 years ago, and its sort of negative connotation, even back then.
If you called yourself “housewife,” a woman did not have a “real” job, so why should she be tired? Only people with “real” jobs—men—could ever be tired.
Well, there was a throwaway line that really had nothing to do with the theme of the particular show.
Her husband on the show, played by Carl Betz, is a pediatrician, with his practice as part of the family home.
Dr. Alex Stone has no secretary or receptionist, so he handles all the correspondence for his practice by himself, with occasional help from his wife.
The scene cuts to his office, and he has just hung up the phone, and is shaking his head in bewilderment.
His wife is in his office, and he says to her something to the effect of, “I just don’t understand it … mothers not bringing their kids into the office to get their polio shots … !”
Fast forward more than 60 years, and I guess you can equate that with mothers not bringing in their kids to get the coronavirus shots …
So you see, using this classic sitcom as a bellwether, people were also hesitant about giving their children the polio shot too, so this is absolutely nothing new with what we are facing now with the coronavirus shot.
Going back more than 60 years, I had no idea that there was even a smidgen of controversy about the polio shot, but I guess there was.
So what is going on in 2022 is nothing new, nothing new at all.
And with both Phizer and Moderna touting their shots as the best for the small fry, you just know that this discussion is not going away anytime soon.
And that is going to be how I end this Rant … you can always learn something new no matter how old or young you are, and who said television was “a vast wasteland” anyway?
Every once in a while, I watch “The Donna Reed Show,” one of the all-time-great family sitcoms starring the actress and a good cast of other players which currently runs on the Decades channel.
Honestly, I usually don’t have time to watch it, but the way yesterday worked out, I was able to take in two episodes of the show.
Although the show is somewhat dated, one of yesterday’s shows, with a throwaway line, made itself very current.
The show was about the use of the word “housewife” back more than 60 years ago, and its sort of negative connotation, even back then.
If you called yourself “housewife,” a woman did not have a “real” job, so why should she be tired? Only people with “real” jobs—men—could ever be tired.
Well, there was a throwaway line that really had nothing to do with the theme of the particular show.
Her husband on the show, played by Carl Betz, is a pediatrician, with his practice as part of the family home.
Dr. Alex Stone has no secretary or receptionist, so he handles all the correspondence for his practice by himself, with occasional help from his wife.
The scene cuts to his office, and he has just hung up the phone, and is shaking his head in bewilderment.
His wife is in his office, and he says to her something to the effect of, “I just don’t understand it … mothers not bringing their kids into the office to get their polio shots … !”
Fast forward more than 60 years, and I guess you can equate that with mothers not bringing in their kids to get the coronavirus shots …
So you see, using this classic sitcom as a bellwether, people were also hesitant about giving their children the polio shot too, so this is absolutely nothing new with what we are facing now with the coronavirus shot.
Going back more than 60 years, I had no idea that there was even a smidgen of controversy about the polio shot, but I guess there was.
So what is going on in 2022 is nothing new, nothing new at all.
And with both Phizer and Moderna touting their shots as the best for the small fry, you just know that this discussion is not going away anytime soon.
And that is going to be how I end this Rant … you can always learn something new no matter how old or young you are, and who said television was “a vast wasteland” anyway?
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