Can you tell the difference between praise and ridicule? More importantly, who do you trust to know the difference?
If you believe Tim Anderson understands how words work, then the Chicago White Sox star who dared to talk nonsense to Josh Donaldson when the Yankees’ third baseman called him “Jackie” — yes, like Robinson সময় twice when crossing the sidewalk.
According to Donaldson, the “Jackie” conversation was a reference to Stephanie Epstein’s 2019 Sports illustrated Anderson’s profile. Three years later, Donaldson appears to have been quoted in a profile where Anderson referred to himself as “the new Jackie Robinson of baseball.” (One wonders if Donaldson remembers anything else in this profile, such as Anderson’s extensive community work with black kids in the South, or his desire to be a role model for young black athletes.) Anderson said Donaldson’s shot was simply “no.” Undesirable “but” disrespectful “, it is clear that he saw the offensive intent behind the comment. “Misunderstandings based on multiple exchanges between us.”
In a statementDonaldson apologized to Rachel Robinson, Jackie’s 99-year-old widow, and her family “for any inconvenience the incident might have caused,” but her irresistible remorse did not deter her from pleading for an MLB one-game slap on the wrist.
Donaldson is giving the opposite advice to what I am telling you to do. He says you shouldn’t trust Anderson to distinguish between a joke and an insult, and you shouldn’t trust a man in your mid-30s to properly explain the subtext of his own insult.
What was worse than the explanation was that many people conspired to make it work.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone insisted he “did not believe there was a malicious intent” after hearing his third baseman’s explanation. Like a 49-year-old father raising his 36-year-old child, Boone said he told the third baseman to “put it next time.” A few days later, Boone reiterated that he would “never enter anyone’s head and heart”, even when Anderson directly denied Donaldson’s claim that the two had joked about Jackie.
According to reporters present at the scene after Saturday’s game, the Yankees’ main spokesman requested that they be included in their story, which Donaldson previously called Anderson “Jackie,” originally with Donaldson’s defense. The next day, after Anderson hit a three-run bomb to help sweep the double-header, the same spokesman told reporters that Donaldson “wanted to know what you were going to ask” before speaking. (She never came out.)
Keith McPherson, an MLB Network TV and WFAN radio host, has declared Donaldson the latest crash in a canceled culture. “The team has a problem now because they are losing.” He tweetedArguing that we should move forward because Donaldson’s action to write “Nigger” has failed to intensify, not lie. An assault rifle used to kill elderly black grocers. For McPherson, “true racism” can only be verified if it points directly at your head, shooting you in the face.
Elsewhere, Of the New York Post Mike Vacaro mourned Although Donaldson may be a “Tone-Deaf Suiler Room Unable to Read”, MLB’s one-game suspension will force him to wear a red ‘R’ for the rest of his life. I think the league will slap Donaldson’s red-letter on top of Donaldson’s thin blue line sticker, which I saw proudly displayed in his Yankees locker on Wednesday.
To take such explanations seriously would be to give a distorted suggestion that Anderson misled Donaldson into a racist because Donaldson did not throw his hand under his skin for the first time. They ask you to admit that Donaldson is a professional and extremely annoying, regardless of what that truth says about Donaldson’s character.
There is a six-minute video on YouTube, entitled “Josh Donaldson, Angry Baseball Player”, which features some of his most famous explosions and provocations. Watch that video and you’ll see him kicking an umpire dirty while feeling angry at a blank call and shouting, “You! Suck my cock! Angels dugout
We have fewer data points about Donaldson’s off-field behavior, but the fact that he liked some tweets in defense of Joe Rogan, which was sent after footage of the podcast host’s repeated n-word appearing, gives some insight.
Being among Donaldson’s defenders means walking a very narrow balance ray, but in this situation everyone is making their best impression of Simon Byles. According to the Donaldson faction, he made the mistake of deliberately offending Anderson, but also knows how to annoy opponents, but Also Nothing implies by his latest provocation.
Players don’t always buy it.
White Sox catcher Yasmani Grendel told reporters that Donaldson “lives in his own world” – maybe one where action has no consequences? – and he hoped that after receiving a verification he would “deny” the real intention. Donaldson finds himself overwhelmed by admirable denials. He knows that a force of fans and media and colleagues will always be ready to protect his activities and his heart because they see his activities as their own expansion. They know that rarely in their lives would Tim Anderson actually dare to say anything in their face.
As one of Donaldson’s former teammates told me, “He wants to say whatever he wants, whenever he wants. And then he either shows ignorance or wonders when he gets pushback. “
“This MF was crazy for three years about a quote from an article in 2019,” he noted. “It’s true he was crazy about it and bringing it to TA tells you what you need to know, imo.”
I don’t know Josh Donaldson personally, but I know the type. And like Tim Anderson, I know what it feels like to be a black man working primarily in the white field. In the press box, professional lexicographers know how to get a peg down with more precision, but like Donaldson, they know exactly what they’re doing. Their preferred medium is less “fuck you” and more eye rolls and parsed lips, subtweets, and sarcastic jokes loudly wondering if you are. At a conference, a colleague happily assumed that I would be present to cover a diversity and inclusion panel. I can assure you that it was not out of deep enthusiasm for my work.
Should I have kicked those people out? Fighting on the spot to compete with them? According to those who rushed to Donaldson’s defense, I decided to put my hand in my pocket the second time I took away my right to accurately describe those situations as abusive and offensive.
My situation and the people of Anderson, we have to choose our wars carefully. Because even after we decide not to, when we finally get bored enough to describe the world and how we feel about it, no one wants to hear it. The Yankees fans who kissed Anderson on Sunday reminded me of that fact. Fans who uttered “Jackie” during his at-bats reminded me that your words could be used against you, omitting the subtraction margin between Donadolson’s subtext and text.
I know how words work. Most do.