The New York Yankees’ third baseman, Josh Donaldson, spoke to the media following the bench-clearing near-brawl between the Yankees and the Chicago White Sox. While the incident didn’t devolve into an all-out contact brawl. Therefore, things certainly seemed to be trending in that direction for a moment.
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We can outline the genesis of the tense interaction in a comment made by Donaldson to Tim Anderson that the former claims to have been grossly misinterpreted. According to Donaldson, he referred to Anderson as ‘Jackie’ in reference to Anderson anointing himself as the ‘new’ Jackie Robinson.
Yasmani Grandal had something to say to Josh Donaldson. Benches cleared and both teams were warned pic.twitter.com/px2gA5Q5hv
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) May 21, 2022
However, Tim Anderson certainly didn’t see it that way and believed there were racial undertones involved. He would go on to say that he would ‘never sleep this off’ and was so fired up that he had to be held back by multiple teammates during what was a bench-clearing -near-brawl.
Tim Anderson said Josh Donaldson made a "disrespectful" comment toward him in the first inning when he asked him, "What's up, Jackie?" on Saturday.
Donaldson said he was referencing a 2019 article where Anderson called himself "today's Jackie Robinson."https://t.co/3cDIlsPXPi pic.twitter.com/vJfAlHHCh4
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) May 21, 2022
Both of them had gone back and forth in the past as well, but it seems as though Anderson wasn’t having it this time around.
Yankees star Josh Donaldson sets the record straight
In a level-headed interview given backstage, Josh Donaldson provided some context to his comments aimed at Tim Anderson.
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He referred to the 2019 interview, where Tim Anderson referred to himself as the ‘new’ Jackie Robinson. Furthermore, he doubled down on his claim that there was nothing untoward in his intention with the throwaway line.
“So, the first inning, I called him Jackie. Let me give you a little context to that. 2019, he came out in an interview and said that he was the ‘new’ Jackie Robinson of baseball. He’s going to bring back fun to the game and 2019 8 played for Atlanta. We actually joked about that on the game. I don’t know what’s changed, and I’ve said it to him in years past.”
“If something has changed from that, my meaning of that has not in any term trying to be racist in any fact of the matter. It was just off of the interview that he called himself.” [h/t nypost.com]
Despite his clarification of the matter, it seems as though not everyone is on board with Josh Donaldson’s comments. White Sox catcher Yasmani Grandal, who first approached Donaldson on the mound, was one of many White Sox players who were unhappy with the way things unfolded.
It remains to be seen how the MLB community as a whole break down the tense interaction that unfolded at the Yankees stadium.