Perhaps you interpreted this weekend’s fights at Yankee Stadium as the direct result of a racist comment from Josh Donaldson to Tim Anderson. Or maybe you believe Donaldson was just making fun of Anderson by calling the black player “Jackie,” which Donaldson says stemmed from the White Sox star once telling Sports Illustrated he felt “like the Jackie Robinson of today” in terms of breaking the “having-fun barrier.
The truth – whether it’s a long-running joke that got sidetracked or a malicious, racist taunt – will hopefully be uncovered by Major League Baseball, which is investigating the circumstances that led to led to the emptying of the benches on Saturday during the Yankees-White Sox, Anderson to be furious and Chicago manager Tony La Russa to say Donaldson used “racist commentary”. More context — including whether Donaldson had actually called Anderson “Jackie” in the past in a light-hearted way that was accepted as teasing — will matter.
But set aside your personal opinions about what you believe has transpired and where you draw the line between ribs and racism. Let’s review Donaldson’s major league past — he’s new to the Yankees, but not nearly baseball or controversy — to see if, for now, he deserves the benefit of the doubt.
“You really aren’t supposed to like me on the opposing team,” Donaldson told reporters on July 1, 2021, when he first became a hated player on Chicago’s South Side.
