NO SHOCK, JUST HURT
Reggie fights back tears, CC fumes as baseball reacts to news of racial slurs at Fenway
THE incident with Adam Jones at Fenway Park hit close to home for some Yankees, past and present.
CC Sabathia said it was “not surprising” that Red Sox fans taunted the Orioles center fielder with racial slurs, even throwing a bag of peanuts at him, while former Yankee and Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson became emotional when asked about it.
“I guess this thing with Adam Jones, it makes you well up and get teary-eyed,” Jackson said while holding back tears. “Like, you really feel that way? I thought this would change in my daughter’s lifetime. It hasn’t. So it breaks your heart that we still live that.
“To hear it here, I’m disappointed. It knocks me down at my age. It makes me feel like we’re not gaining. I almost want to look around and say, is that really what you think of me?”
Jackson, who played from 1967-87, said he heard racial taunts during his career and was told stories about Boston being a difficult town for minorities, though he said he never experienced that.
Jackson does believe that racism is out in the open now because of the political climate.
“In the last 7-8 years, since our president has become African-American, it seems as though the resentment racially has been more demonstrative,” he said. “It’s been more demonstrated, the dislike. The discord has been shown more. I think politically now, that’s part of who we are that’s coming through, and it’s disappointing. In the political landscape that is today, it’s prevalent.”
While Jackson was saddened, Sabathia grew angry with the news.
“It’s disgusting,” Sabathia said. “When I was in Cleveland it was bad. Really bad. It’s something you know going in, I guess, when you go there. It’s sad is what it is. I never had it anywhere else.”
Sabathia said he hasn’t had any incidents in his nine years as a Yankee, thanks to added security, but added he’s never been called the N-word anywhere but Boston.
“It pisses you off,” he said. “It’s sad that you still have to deal with that in this day in age.”
Curtis Granderson remembers the first time he felt it. He was at a youth baseball tournament in Kentucky and a fan yelled out to him and his teammate, who was also African American.
“He said you black boys sure played good,” Granderson said he remembered. “It wasn’t ‘You guys played good,’ so you knew what he meant.”
The racism that Adam Jones experienced Monday night in Fenway is sadly not news to the Mets outfielder or the Braves’ Matt Kemp. And it never surprised long-time major leaguer and former Met LaTroy Hawkins when it would happen to him throughout his career.
“Adam is the only one talking about it now, but it’s been happening for years,” Hawkins said. “MLB wants the fans closer and closer to the game, everything is all about the fan experience. The players have gone through this for years. What are you going to do?”
Kemp would like to see MLB do more to prevent such incidents. The Braves left fielder said that he had to have a discussion with team security within the past week about fans harassing him. And, he pointed out, it’s not just a problem in Boston.
“It’s bad and like I said you got security guards and people there just sit there and let it happen, to me is crazy for sure. MLB should step in and talk to some of these
different stadiums, actually all of them and get this stuff together,” Kemp said. “It’s unacceptable as grown men we shouldn’t have to worry about people throwing stuff at us. … It gets kind of crazy, people just turn their head and let it happen because they think it’s part of the game. It’s not, we didn’t sign up for that.
“We play baseball because we love it, not to get harassed by other people’s fans.”
Granderson said that a certain level of harassment is expected when he is on the road. Fans like to razz opposing teams’ players, but it definitely goes to a different, unacceptable level at times
“You can sense when there is a level of hatred vs. ‘you are on the other team and I don’t like the team you are playing for.’ You can really get a sense that people are upset at you rather than what you represent, regardless of playing ability. I have had that experience,” Granderson said.
Like Jones, both Granderson and Kemp said they have had things thrown at them in the outfield. They have also heard the racial slurs that Jones heard. Standing in the outfield, they feel vulnerable, fully aware there’s little they can do.
“For us, it’s lose-lose situation,” Kemp said. “As a man, if I got a fan right here on me, I go into protect mode. Sometimes I can’t control it, like Adam said today, if we grab somebody or do something, we’re getting sued or something bad is going to happen to us. We look like the enemy.”
Hawkins said he got through 20 years in the major leagues by making fun of the racists taunts. He once threw a spit-covered ball to one racist who called him “Everything but what my momma named me,” and then had the audacity to beg him for a souvenir ball.
“I’d always point out that they paid money to come see a black man play baseball,” Hawkins said with a laugh, “or I’d tell them my ATM card works just fine, thank you. It’d piss them off and I’d laugh. It’s all I could do.”
As for a solution to stop and condemn racist taunts at the ballpark, Jones, who received a standing ovation at Fenway Tuesday night, said fans should be fined a large sum of money.
“I have no idea,” Sabathia said. “I really don’t know any solution for what they should do. It’s bad, it’s sad, it’s 2017 and you still have to deal with racism in baseball.”