Posted on May 23, 2022

White Sox Accuse Yankees’ Josh Donaldson of Racial ‘Jackie’ Comment

Zach Braziller, New York Post, May 21, 2022

Tim Anderson was furious. So were his White Sox teammates. And a benches-clearing brawl nearly erupted as a result of what they believed was a racist comment made by the Yankees Josh Donaldson.

After the Yankees’ 7-5 victory at the Stadium on Saturday, Anderson said Donaldson used the phrase, “What’s up Jackie?” twice during the game, which he took as racist. Donaldson’s response was that he has jokingly called Anderson, who is black, “Jackie” (as in Jackie Robinson) before because the infielder had previously referred to himself in 2019 as “today’s Jackie Robinson.”

“He just made a disrespectful comment. He was trying to call me Jackie Robinson, ‘What’s up Jackie?” a visibly upset Anderson said. “I don’t play like that. … That happened the first time he got on, and I spared him that time, and it happened again. It’s just uncalled for.”

Later, Anderson said: “I’ll never sleep this off.”

Donaldson said afterward that he has playfully called Anderson “Jackie” in the past, a reference to a 2019 Sports Illustrated article in which Anderson said, “I kind of feel like today’s Jackie Robinson.”

“Obviously he deemed that it was disrespectful. Look, if he did, I apologize,” Donaldson said. “There was no meaning by me saying that to him other than he’s called himself that. That’s it.”

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