Henry Roldán
The constant tensions between Tim Anderson and Josh Donaldson took a much more radical turn this Saturday afternoon after Anderson denounced getting racist comments by Donaldson.
After the commitment between the Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees came to an end, in which the benches were emptied in the fifth episode, Tim Anderson spoke with the media present to comment on what happened.
As the White Sox shortstop highlighted, the Yankees player made a racist comment, something that deeply upset him and that he could not allow to go under the table.
“He made a racist comment. Basically, he was trying to call me Jackie Robinson. He was like, ‘Hey, what’s up Jackie?’ I don’t play like that. I don’t really play at all. It was unnecessary.”
Tim Anderson on his altercation with Josh Donaldson
Prior to the clash, Donaldson, who arrived this year at the Yankees, exchanged words with White Sox catcher Yasmani Grandal. And although the third baseman tried to explain the situation, neither Grandal nor the rest of the Chicago players seem to have been very calm with the player’s explanation, since not only the benches were emptied, but even the whitelegs’ manager Tony La Russa called the comments racist.
Josh Donaldson Defended Himself and Apologized to Tim Anderson
For his part, Donaldson tried to clarify his words after Saturday’s game, claiming that it was not the first time he had said the same thing to Anderson and that on other occasions his reaction was not so. What’s even more, in an interview in 2019 Anderson became known as the new Jackie Robinson.
“So first inning, I called him ‘Jackie.’ Let me give you a little context of that. In 2019, he came out with an interview, said that he’s the new Jackie Robinson of baseball and he’s going to bring back fun for the game, right? In 2019, when I played for Atlanta, we actually joked about that in the game. I don’t know what’s changed. Obviously, he deemed that it was disrespectful. And look, if he did, I apologize. That’s not what I was trying to do, by any manner.”
Josh Donaldson on his altercation with Tim Anderson
Likewise, the manager of the Yankees, Aaron Boone, indicated that he understands his player’s statements and trusts that they were not made with malicious intent. However, he did emphasize that he already spoke with him because this is something that could have been avoided, especially since last week, when they played in Chicago, both Anderson and Donaldson had several frictions on the pitch.
