Josh Donaldson, who’s been in the limelight since Saturday after referring to Tim Anderson as Jackie Robinson, said he and the White Sox shortstop now have a “mutual understanding” over his “Jackie” comment.
“First and foremost, I have the utmost respect for what Tim Anderson brings in the game of baseball,” Donaldson wrote in a statement shared Thursday morning. “I stated 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 that exchange hasn’t changed and I absolutely meant no disrespect. In the past, it had never been an issue and now that it is, we have a mutual understanding.
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“I would also like to apologize to Mrs. Rachel Robinson and the Jackie Robinson family for any distress this incident may have caused,” Donaldson continued. “Jackie was a true American hero and I hold his name in the highest regard.”
On Saturday, Donaldson said “What’s up Jackie?” to Anderson, who is Black, while he was on base during the Yankees’ game against the White Sox. The incident was viewed as a racial taunt by Anderson and the entire White Sox team, and as plain wrong by the rest of the Yankees. The comment sparked a benches-clearing incident later in that day’s game.
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Donaldson explained his comment stemmed from an interview Anderson did in 2019, when he referred to himself as a modern day Jackie Robinson, and that he and Anderson joked about it in the past. Anderson, when asked about Donaldson calling him “Jackie” in 2019, said he told Donaldson they “never have to speak again.”
“I knew he knew exactly what he was doing,” Anderson told reporters in Chicago of the three-year-old interaction on Tuesday.
MLB started investigating Donaldson after Saturday’s incident. It issued the Yankee third baseman a one-game suspension two days later, which Donaldson planned to appeal.
Donaldson has not played since Sunday, after going on the COVID-19 IL.
