Maybe you interpreted the fighting this weekend at Yankee Stadium as a direct result of a racist comment by Josh Donaldson to Tim Anderson. Or maybe you believe that Donaldson was simply poking fun at Anderson by calling the Black player “Jackie,” which Donaldson said stemmed from the White Sox standout once telling Sports Illustrated he feels “like today’s Jackie Robinson” in terms of breaking the “have-fun barrier.”
The truth — whether it was a long-running joke that went sideways or a malicious, racist taunt — hopefully will be uncovered by Major League Baseball, which is investigating the circumstances that led to the benches being emptied Saturday during Yankees-White Sox, Anderson to be furious and Chicago manager Tony La Russa to say Donaldson used “a racist comment.” More context — including whether Donaldson indeed had called Anderson “Jackie” in the past in a lighthearted manner that was accepted as teasing — will matter.
But set aside your personal opinions about what you believe transpired and where you draw the line between ribbing and racism. Let’s go through Donaldson’s major league past — he is new to the Yankees, but not nearly to baseball or controversy — to see whether, at the moment, he deserves the benefit of the doubt.
“You are really not supposed to like me being on the opposing team,” Donaldson told reporters on July 1, 2021, when he first became a hated player in the South Side of Chicago.
