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Yankees third baseman Josh Donaldson has released a statement after being suspended for “disrespectful” comments he made to the White Sox’s Tim Anderson last weekend. Donaldson told Anderson “Jackie,” a reference to Jackie Robinson, and what Donaldson initially stated was an internal joke.
Donaldson was suspended for one game and fined by MLB. On Thursday, he said the exchange was a “misunderstanding” and that “it didn’t mean any disrespect.” He also apologized to Rachel Robinson, Jackie’s widow, and the rest of the Robinson family.
Here is Donaldson’s full statement:
First of all, I have the utmost respect for what Tim Anderson brings to the game of baseball. I testified over the weekend that I apologized for offending Tim and that it was a misunderstanding based on multiple exchanges between us over the years. My view of this exchange has not changed and I did not mean any disrespect. In the past, it has never been a problem and now it is, we have a mutual understanding.
I would also like to apologize to Mrs. Rachel Robinson and the Jackie Robinson family for any distress that this incident may have caused. Jackie was a true American hero and I hold his name with the utmost esteem.
After the comment and the bank clean-up incident, Donaldson’s teammate Aaron Judge even went out in public to criticize Donaldson.
Donaldson’s “Jackie” comment came from a Sports Illustrated article in which Anderson said he felt like Robinson. The deeper context, of course, is that Anderson feels lonely and isolated as one of the few black American players in Major League Baseball. Donaldson originally said the comment was an internal joke between the two, but White Sox searcher Liam Hendriks noted that “you usually have inside jokes with people you get along with, not people who don’t get along. well “.
In the days since everything fell apart, Anderson has said that Donaldson first called him “Jackie” in 2019 and that Anderson responded by saying not to talk to him again.