The presence of Donald Trump in the White House isn’t the only reminder of how far we have to go in snuffing out racism in this country. Monday night witnessed one of the most disgraceful moments ever seen at any sporting event in recent memory. During the Boston Red Sox’ game against the Baltimore Orioles at Boston’s Fenway Park, several so-called fans got the bright idea to bombard Orioles center fielder Adam Jones–both figuratively with racist chants, and literally with peanuts. Thankfully, the Red Sox apologized, but Jones wants the powers that be in baseball to ensure that there is never a next time for this.
Jones has reached the All-Star Game five times in his career. Unfortunately, that didn’t save him from being the target of some ghastly abuse on Monday night. After the game, Jones said that a number of fans yelled the N-word at him, and one of them even threw a bag of peanuts at him. He has heard his fair share of racist heckling at Fenway Park during his 12 years in the majors–two with the Seattle Mariners, and 10 with the Orioles–but he believed this was the worst yet. By his reckoning, at least 60 fans were ejected on Monday night. The Red Sox believe that it was more in the 30s–still pretty staggering.
Jones discussed the ugliness the following day. Watch the full exchange here, via The (Springfield) Republican.
Jones said that when you’re the visiting team, you expect to be heckled. However, what he heard on Monday night wasn’t “clever,” but “stupid and ignorant.” While he doesn’t think the peanut-thrower wasn’t racially motivated, he did think it was “pathetic” and incredibly dangerous. He was glad that the bottom-feeder was ejected, but thought it didn’t go far enough. If it were up to him, that guy would have been heavily fined–“10 grand, 20 grand, 30 grand”–and banned from the stadium for life.
Red Sox president Sam Kennedy rushed out with a burning statement condemning the incident as “inexcusable behavior” that was the product of “the conduct of an ignorant few.” He added that racism and throwing objects had no place at Fenway Park, and anyone engaging in it “forfeits his right to remain” at Fenway Park.
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker condemned the incident as well.
Fenway fans behavior at the #RedSox game last night was unacceptable & shameful. This is not what Massachusetts & Boston are about.
— Charlie Baker (@MassGovernor) May 2, 2017
Boston mayor Marty Walsh also weighed in.
What happened last night at Fenway Park is unacceptable and not who we are as a city. (1/2)
— Mayor Marty Walsh (@marty_walsh) May 2, 2017
These words and actions have no place in Fenway, Boston or anywhere. We are better than this. (2/2)
— Mayor Marty Walsh (@marty_walsh) May 2, 2017
Later on Tuesday, Kennedy and Red Sox owner John Henry met with Jones and Orioles manager Buck Showalter to assure them that they are working to ensure that this never happens again. He went further when he spoke to the press before Tuesday’s game. Watch here, via The Republican.
Kennedy urged players and fans to report anything that is “offensive or uncomfortable” or “unsafe” to ballpark security, either by text, a phone call, or mobile app. He stressed that keeping this kind of garbage out of Fenway is a “partnership between the organization and our fans.” He revealed that the meeting with Jones went very well; he understood that this was not the Red Sox’ fault, but said it was part of the territory. According to Kennedy, Henry said that this sort of incident shouldn’t be part of the territory for any player. Kennedy also delivered a warning to any fan thinking of pulling a similar stunt–they could be banned from the park for a year, “maybe for life.”
Fenway Park has long been notorious in MLB for racist heckling–apparently fueled by liquid courage. According to New York Yankees player CC Sabathia, he and the other 61 black players in the majors know that “when you go to Boston, expect it.”
However, there was at least one sign that things may be changing. When Jones came to the plate for the first time on Tuesday night, the fans gave him a standing ovation. Watch here.
However, Jones isn’t willing to let this die. His agent, Nez Balelo, issued a statement putting Major League Baseball and its teams on notice–this needs to be fixed, and fixed now.
“We are not going to let up on this one until we see implemented policies put in place in every city to protect these players and stop this type of reckless behavior.”
Balelo called for a “zero tolerance” policy for anyone yelling racial slurs or throwing things on the field, with “harsh consequences.” He added that this wasn’t the first time Jones has had to deal with this knuckleheaded behavior.
“I have been Adam Jones’ agent for the past 10 years and have lived and experienced this type of behavior with him throughout the years. It has to stop and stop NOW.”
His sentiments were echoed by ESPN’s Buster Olney, who called for the standard public address warning against abusive behavior to be heavily amended. How would it read if it were up to Olney?
“Any fan who aims racist, anti-Semitic and anti-gay words at on-field personnel or fans will be immediately ejected and banned from (fill in the ballpark) permanently.”
I’d do one better. You pull a stunt like this, even once, and you’re banned from ever setting foot in any MLB stadium again. MLB has to drop the hammer on this behavior. Otherwise, there are going to be an awful lot of kids of color who are going to have second thoughts about going to the bigs–and that won’t be good for the game, or the nation as a whole.
It’s a disgrace that we have to even have this discussion on the 70th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color line. Hopefully it will only take one instance of someone getting thrown out of the stadium and heavily fined to ensure that this never happens again, ever.
(featured image courtesy Mr.Schultz, available under a Creative Commons BY-SA license)
