{"id":1494425,"date":"2022-05-27T10:59:39","date_gmt":"2022-05-27T14:59:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1494425"},"modified":"2022-05-27T10:59:43","modified_gmt":"2022-05-27T14:59:43","slug":"mlbs-lazy-suspension-of-yankees-josh-donaldson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mlbs-lazy-suspension-of-yankees-josh-donaldson\/","title":{"rendered":"MLB\u2019s Lazy Suspension Of Yankee\u2019s Josh Donaldson"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmlbs-lazy-suspension-of-yankees-josh-donaldson%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1494425&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Does the intent of our language no longer matter?<\/p>\n<p>Yankees third baseman Josh Donaldson was handed down a one-game suspension by Major League Baseball this week in response to calling White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson, \u201cJackie.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At first glance, a white baseball player calling a black player \u201cJackie\u201d seems to insinuate racial connotation; however, let us review several preceding events for context.<\/p>\n<p>April 17, 2019: During the fourth inning of a game against the Kansas City Royals, Anderson blasts a two-run homer against pitcher Brad Keller. Upon exiting the batter\u2019s box, Anderson turns to his dugout and throws his bat in their direction.<\/p>\n<p>Two innings later, Keller fires a 92-mph fastball at Anderson\u2019s back, the benches clear, and Anderson, who again, is black, calls Keller a, \u201cweak-a\u2013 f\u2014-ing n\u2014er.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>May 6, 2019: Three weeks later Sports Illustrated publishes a feature on Tim Anderson where he is quoted saying, \u201cI feel like today\u2019s Jackie Robinson. He changed the game, and I feel like I need to change the game too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>May 21, 2022: Donaldson calls Anderson \u2018Jackie\u2019 on the field of play (which Donaldson admits he has done in the past, and the two have joked about this matter). The players on both teams then clear the benches preparing for a brawl, and as a result of the event, Donaldson receives a one-game suspension.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>For the record, I am not a black man, and I haven\u2019t experienced life as a black man in this country. Further, I never want to make light of a situation when someone says he feels discriminated against.<\/p>\n<p>However, I am an athlete, and I\u2019ve played a lot of baseball \u2013 so let\u2019s start by highlighting one of baseball\u2019s time-honored, unwritten rules; celebrate all you want after hitting a home run, but understand, the more you celebrate, the more likely it is you will be thrown at during your next at-bat. Even most t-ball players understand this\u2026and they don\u2019t even face pitchers.<\/p>\n<p>On April 17, 2019, Tim Anderson excessively celebrates a home run and he is subsequently hit by a fastball. He is far from the first, or the last, person to be hit by a pitch intentionally. That doesn\u2019t make him Jackie Robinson. In fact, I find it disrespectful, and ironic, for Anderson to liken himself to a civil rights icon, especially when it is Anderson who shouted the very racial slur that was used venomously and incessantly to keep Jackie Robinson down.<\/p>\n<p>When a person goes out on a limb and makes a comparison about himself that doesn\u2019t hold water, it is often his colleagues and peers who have a go at him, especially in sports where trash talking is nearly baptismal in its tradition. I\u2019d like to think that\u2019s what happened here, that Donaldson was just joshing around (pun intended).<\/p>\n<p>Now let\u2019s move to Major League Baseball\u2019s commissioner Rob Manfred, and the executives in his employ. Had they found Donaldson\u2019s comment to possess racist intent, he should have been suspended for longer than one game. We have no place in our society for racially-motivated discrimination, and I have no problem telling Josh Donaldson that to his face. If, however, Major League Baseball determined there was no racial malice, why suspend Donaldson at all?<\/p>\n<p>This appears to be yet another example in our society where it\u2019s easier for an institution to have its public relations team make the important decisions, rather than stand by a clear set of unshakeable principles.<\/p>\n<p>One MLB executive announced, \u201c\u2026regardless of Mr. Donaldson\u2019s intent, the comment was disrespectful, and warrants discipline.\u201d Disrespectful and racist are two vastly different accusations. If the bar for suspensions rests at disrespect, there will be no players on the field, and likely no fans in the stands!<\/p>\n<p>No one other than Donaldson can state his intent in this situation, but if Tim Anderson\u2019s reaction to this comment was laughter, rather than anger, would Major League Baseball still have suspended JD? Or, is Donaldson only being punished due to the other players reaction? Intent matters \u2013 or at least it used to.<\/p>\n<p>I have a feeling if Josh Donaldson anointed himself the modern-day Babe Ruth, the name Babe would rain down on him in every stadium after every strike out for the rest of his career.<\/p>\n<p>I must admit, in closing, I was struck by another comment from Tim Anderson\u2019s Sports Illustrated interview, where he was quoted saying, \u201cI\u2019m bringing something to baseball that\u2019s never been brought, because baseball is boring.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0Baseball isn\u2019t boring. I\u2019ll tell you what\u2019s boring \u2013 listening to a multi-millionaire, professional ball player whine and complain after likening himself to one of the strongest civil rights icons of the modern sports era.<\/p>\n<p>When someone sees himself as the modern day Jackie Robinson, fighting prejudice on all fronts, he will begin to see everything around him through the lens of prejudice. Tim Anderson \u2013 you\u2019re no Jackie.<\/p>\n<p><em>David Cone is a co-host<\/p>\n<p><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Does the intent of our language no longer matter? Yankees third baseman Josh Donaldson was handed down a one-game suspension by Major League Baseball this week in response to calling White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson, \u201cJackie.\u201d At first glance, a white baseball player calling a black player \u201cJackie\u201d seems to insinuate racial connotation; however, let &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":811,"featured_media":1494477,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1494425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1494425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/811"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1494425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1494425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1494477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1494425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1494425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1494425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}