The Chicago White Sox and Josh Donaldson clearly have problems with each other. It isn’t anything to do with the New York Yankees either. It is simply Josh Donaldson. He is an arrogant player that causes drama wherever he goes. Now, he is making extremely disrespectful and racist comments.
On Saturday, with a lot of premeditated history, Donaldson thought it would be a good idea to call Tim Anderson “Jackie’ referring to Jackie Robinson. It is a really bad look and it caused a benches-clearing incident between the two clubs.
Major League Baseball investigated the incident and decided that Donaldson’s horrid actions only warranted a one-game suspension and an undisclosed fine. That is a slap on the wrist for dangerous comments like that.
MLB made mention of the fact that there was no dispute over what was said on the field. They also said that regardless of what the intent was, the comment that he made was disrespectful and in poor judgment. They also recognized the context of prior interactions as a problem with his comments.
Josh Donaldson gets a slap on the wrist suspension and fine from MLB.
NY #Yankees 3B Josh Donaldson is suspended one game and fined, which he is appealing, for his incident with #Whitesox shortstop Tim Anderson on Saturday
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) May 23, 2022
MLB on Josh Donaldson suspension:’There is no dispute over what was said on the field. Regardless of Mr. Donaldson's intent, the comment he directed toward Mr. Anderson was disrespectful and in poor judgment, particularly when viewed in the context of their prior interactions.’
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) May 23, 2022
MLB (continued): ‘In addition, Mr. Donaldson’s remark was a contributing factor in a bench-clearing incident between the teams, and warrants discipline.”
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) May 23, 2022
The league also didn’t like that the comments induced the benches-clearing brawl between the White Sox and Yankees. There was no violence between either side but Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Jose Abreu, and Gavin Sheets doing their best to be peacemakers could be why.
This is an extremely disappointing punishment from MLB. Donaldson deserves much more than this slap on the wrist penalty and fine for making comments that are seen as racist by so many. There is no room for that kind of garbage in baseball or anywhere in life.
Josh Donaldson is appealing the suspension so that tells you everything you need to know about him as a person. He has no remorse for the comments that he made and it doesn’t even slightly bother him. He doesn’t care about how they made others feel.
The White Sox got their best revenge with the way that they played on Sunday and now they don’t have to see the New York Yankees at all in the regular season. They could meet in the playoffs but they will cross that bridge when they get there.
Tim Anderson is an outstanding player and human being. He is the face of this franchise and his teammates clearly love him. Josh Donaldson is irrelevant to his success but it would have just been nice to see the MLB take this a bit more seriously.