Orioles' Adam Jones berated by racist taunts at Fenway Park

[Going Underground]

14 minutes ago, baltimore_chop said:

For the person that brought up the percentages of African Americans in MLB and the US, it just further cements my point that there are a good amount of white folks who still see the country as "their country",  and baseball as "their sport". That's why it saddened me when people, even on THIS site called for Adam to be off the team when he's done NOTHING but be the leader of this team, the USA squad, and contribute to the Baltimore community in many different ways. THIS is what he was talking about; doing everything right, showing nothing but class, being a leader on and off the field, being an ambassador for Baltimore and the Orioles, and STILL being seen as less than human. Absolutely sickening.

What do you think the whole take back our country means? Pretty obvious.

[atomic]

1 hour ago, Rich Mac said:

I seriously question the effectiveness of lifetime bans in ballparks. It's a punishment with no real bite.

You have 20-30 thousand people walking into a ballpark every night. No one checks ID. I really doubt anyone is seriously studying faces. Each ballpark probably has thousands of morons that have been banned over the years, who can remember all of those faces?

I'm sure many people that have been banned just continue to go with complete disregard. You have to remember that they were stupid enough to get kicked in the first place, so they probably aren't worried about the threat of a misdemeanor Criminal Trespass if they are the one in a million that get caught. In fact, is there any documentation of anyone ever getting caught trying to get back into a park after being banned for life?

There should be a different punishment for this kind of inexcusable behavior. I really don't have an answer myself. Maybe some sort of public shaming? I just feel that the threat of getting kicked out of the stadium on that particular night is not deterrence enough.

If you go after you have been banned you are arrested for Trespassing.  

[Going Underground]

Just out:

 

Red Sox President Sam Kennedy released the following statement on racial remarks directed at Orioles center fielder Adam Jones during Monday night's game at Fenway Park. Jones also said a bag of peanuts was thrown in his direction.

“The Red Sox want to publicly apologize to Adam Jones and the entire Orioles organization for what occurred at Fenway Park Monday night. No player should have an object thrown at him on the playing field, nor be subjected to any kind of racism at Fenway Park. The Red Sox have zero tolerance for such inexcusable behavior, and our entire organization and our fans are sickened by the conduct of an ignorant few. Such conduct should be reported immediately to Red Sox security, and any spectator behaving in this manner forfeits his/her right to remain in the ballpark, and may be subject to further action. Our review of last night's events is ongoing.”

[foxfield]

First off, what a horrible thing for Adam Jones, American baseball player and hero of the WBC, to endure.  What a horrendous thing for any African American to endure.  I support Adam for using this event and his new stance to speak out.  I also hope that this can help in some way by his calling out this behavior.  I also would hope that we would try not to impugn the Boston fans for something that most assuredly occurs in 15 ball parks every night. Although the history suggests that Boston may have an issue larger than some.

I wonder, and I apologize if this is wrong, delete.  But if the current state of fandom does not reflect our society.  We hate the Redsox or Yankees or Blue Jays, because they are our rivals, our opponents, and a team in the way of us reaching our goal of winning.  I have personally, on this site called Dustin Pedroia a troll because of his uniform, even though as a player, we would idolize him.  I shouldn't do that and will do my best not to again.

But I see something here that is more and more common.  In society we hate our opponents and everything they stand for we despise.  We label them in a rude and demeaning fashion because it fits an agenda  This poisons the water and makes interaction and finding common ground nearly impossible.  And yet we see it all the time.  ALL THE TIME.

It doesn't have to be that way, take the OH for example, there are arguments here and sometimes it crosses lines.  But for the most part different views and ideas are expressed and debated here daily.  I don't care if you are a Democrat or a Republican, we share a common love of the Orioles and the different perspectives and viewpoints makes the conversation here richer.   Without finding common ground the ability to do that is lost. 

My hope is that Adam Jones, through his actions calling out someone who was wrong and yes, Dustin Pedroia who did a similar thing last week, can increase a dialogue where we can be willing to speak out when something is wrong, in a respectful but firm manner that says, "Hey we shouldn't be doing that."  

I have always thought that sports, especially baseball, taught us all of life's best lessons.  Perhaps it is time for baseball to teach us another lesson and that lesson is playing out right in front of us between two of the games great stars.  I appreciate the recent actions of both and will continue try and be a better person by doing the same.

 

 

[crawjo]

9 hours ago, crissfan172 said:

There is absolutely no place for that kind of crap in our society. 

This isn't a "Red Sox fans suck" thing, though. This is a bad people thing. 

Boston has a history of this sort of thing. It's always been a notably racist city, especially when it coms to Black athletes. 

[thisyear?]

I'm listening to WEEI in Boston area now.  One caller literally said, "I wouldn't let that happen if I was there - therefore, it didn't happen."  The majority of the hosts agreed with her and cast major doubt on Adam Jones' character.  Makes me sick.  I agree this is not all Red Sox fans, as I know some good Sox fans, but the attitude is awful.  I hope it lights a fire under our team but this should never happen.  I hope the Fenway staff roots this out. 

[Going Underground]

Just now, dan-O said:

I lived in Boston for 4 years and never really saw anything racists. That said,  I'm a white male and I was in the "not from here" student bubble. 

I don't believe we should classify a whole town as being racist. That's not exactly helpful. These disgusting trash people that yelled at Jones are just bad people. They don't speak for Boston or the Red Sox. They speak for themselves, and they're letting everyone know how awful they are as human beings.

Credit to Jones for taking as high a road on this stuff as possible. And he's doing the game a service by talking about this stuff. 

Agreed. But I am sure some in one part of the media will blame him for labeling whites as racists. Even though he never said that. I bet any amount?

[Going Underground]

1 minute ago, thisyear? said:

I'm listening to WEEI in Boston area now.  One caller literally said, "I wouldn't let that happen if I was there - therefore, it didn't happen."  The majority of the hosts agreed with her and cast major doubt on Adam Jones' character.  Makes me sick.  I agree this is not all Red Sox fans, as I know some good Sox fans, but the attitude is awful.  I hope it lights a fire under our team but this should never happen.  I hope the Fenway staff roots this out. 

The Red Sox admitted it. Don't need some caller into a talk show to state whatever agenda facts they have.

 

 Red  Sox President Sam Kennedy released the following statement on racial remarks directed at Orioles center fielder Adam Jones during Monday night's game at Fenway Park. Jones also said a bag of peanuts was thrown in his direction.

“The Red Sox want to publicly apologize to Adam Jones and the entire Orioles organization for what occurred at Fenway Park Monday night. No player should have an object thrown at him on the playing field, nor be subjected to any kind of racism at Fenway Park. The Red Sox have zero tolerance for such inexcusable behavior, and our entire organization and our fans are sickened by the conduct of an ignorant few. Such conduct should be reported immediately to Red Sox security, and any spectator behaving in this manner forfeits his/her right to remain in the ballpark, and may be subject to further action. Our review of last night's events is ongoing.”

 1

•  

[Palmoripken]

It's simply not right that this happened. Glad Adam got sweet revenge by making some nice catches. 

[TradeAngelos]

59 minutes ago, thisyear? said:

I'm listening to WEEI in Boston area now.  One caller literally said, "I wouldn't let that happen if I was there - therefore, it didn't happen."  The majority of the hosts agreed with her and cast major doubt on Adam Jones' character.  Makes me sick.  I agree this is not all Red Sox fans, as I know some good Sox fans, but the attitude is awful.  I hope it lights a fire under our team but this should never happen.  I hope the Fenway staff roots this out. 

This has been like the last 15 callers, or every single one of them. Total denial. Guy on right now calling Jones a liar. It's Deflategate all over again, if you can't "prove" it, it didn't happen. 

[NashLumber]

1 hour ago, foxfield said:

First off, what a horrible thing for Adam Jones, American baseball player and hero of the WBC, to endure.  What a horrendous thing for any African American to endure.  I support Adam for using this event and his new stance to speak out.  I also hope that this can help in some way by his calling out this behavior.  I also would hope that we would try not to impugn the Boston fans for something that most assuredly occurs in 15 ball parks every night. Although the history suggests that Boston may have an issue larger than some.

I wonder, and I apologize if this is wrong, delete.  But if the current state of fandom does not reflect our society.  We hate the Redsox or Yankees or Blue Jays, because they are our rivals, our opponents, and a team in the way of us reaching our goal of winning.  I have personally, on this site called Dustin Pedroia a troll because of his uniform, even though as a player, we would idolize him.  I shouldn't do that and will do my best not to again.

But I see something here that is more and more common.  In society we hate our opponents and everything they stand for we despise.  We label them in a rude and demeaning fashion because it fits an agenda  This poisons the water and makes interaction and finding common ground nearly impossible.  And yet we see it all the time.  ALL THE TIME.

It doesn't have to be that way, take the OH for example, there are arguments here and sometimes it crosses lines.  But for the most part different views and ideas are expressed and debated here daily.  I don't care if you are a Democrat or a Republican, we share a common love of the Orioles and the different perspectives and viewpoints makes the conversation here richer.   Without finding common ground the ability to do that is lost. 

My hope is that Adam Jones, through his actions calling out someone who was wrong and yes, Dustin Pedroia who did a similar thing last week, can increase a dialogue where we can be willing to speak out when something is wrong, in a respectful but firm manner that says, "Hey we shouldn't be doing that."  

I have always thought that sports, especially baseball, taught us all of life's best lessons.  Perhaps it is time for baseball to teach us another lesson and that lesson is playing out right in front of us between two of the games great stars.  I appreciate the recent actions of both and will continue try and be a better person by doing the same.

 

 

Well said. Have a greenie. 

[Tony-OH]

People throwing things at athletes should be tossed and fined or possibly arrested if the objects hit someone because it's dangerous. People yelling curse word and racial slurs should be tossed. Words are idiotic, but they aren't going to kill anyone and time some of you to get out of your safe spaces and realize that you can't overreact to every idiotic and hateful thing said. 

Guess what? There are idiots all over the country and they don't all live in Boston or make Boston a racist city. Big Papi was loved by the Boston community. In case anyone noticed, he's black and Hispanic.  Mookie Betts seems pretty popular as does Xander Bogarts.

People yelling racist slurs are idiots, but they don't need to be flogged or fined half their monthly salary because they said something they shouldn't. I have no problem with a temporary ban after a first violation and permanent ban after a second, but let's get a grip. This isn't happening because this is a "white man's sport" and this isn't because white people think this is their sport. That's just utter ridiculousness and is the kind of crap that just causes divisiveness. 

This happened because a few idiots, some of who very well may be racist, decided to take out their anger on an opposing player who is good. One other thing to remember is that the proximity of the fans to the players in Fenway park seems to be closer than most parks. That certainly encourages idiots who know players can hear their garbage. Also, I've heard some pretty awful stuff come from Camden Yards towards players as well so let's not act like it only happens in Boston.

Now I know it seems easy to jump on the bash fest, and I'm no fan of the Boston area fans and think the ones that come to Camden Yards are the most obnoxious of all the visiting fans, but let's have a little perspective. The entire city of Boston is not racist. Red Sox fans as a whole are not racist. Baseball is not racist nor is it a white man's sport. 

The lack of black players who are in the major leagues is a direct result of the amount of black players playing little league and high school baseball. Whether it's because the amount of money it takes to play all year around in travel ball, the private coaching, and in some cases the private schools with the best programs keeping some of the inner city black youths for getting the best experience, there is just not a lot of black players playing the game at a young age anymore. There may be a lack of black players playing the sport, but it's not because someone is trying to keep black players out of the MLB. If you are one of the best players in the world you will play in the MLB regardless of your race or ethnicity. 

I've coached in high school, scouted high school, college and minor league players and at the end of the day, I've never heard or seen any racism toward a black or Hispanic player. About the closest I've heard was how some coaches would call a Dominican player lazy or uncoachable early in their careers when it may have been more of a cultural and language barrier issue. I don't think that necessarily was racism, but it was certainly a situation where a coach made quicker assessments about a player without considering some of the barriers in front of that player. Thankfully those guys are no longer coaches from i can tell.

[Tony-OH]

16 minutes ago, TradeAngelos said:

This has been like the last 15 callers, or every single one of them. Total denial. Guy on right now calling Jones a liar. It's Deflategate all over again, if you can't "prove" it, it didn't happen. 

Listen to Baltimore sports talk show callers and tell me you want them to represent our fanbases views to the world. I've found about 10 percent of the callers to have interesting valid points. The rest are more like this, "Man, the Ravens screwed up that draft pick. They should have drafted that RB with the African name instead, can't remember his name but i think he went to Clemson or USC or something like that!" 

I picture the typical sports talk show caller as the guys who wouldn't last a day on OH.

[Tony-OH]

1 minute ago, RZNJ said:

Great post Tony.   As an aside.   You never hear anyone saying we need to get more white guys playing football or basketball because there aren't enough white guys in the NBA or NFL.   Just one of those things I find funny.

Right, in fact, I would say Basketball is the most racist sport because most teams seem to have a token white guy at the end of their bench. I could care less if the players are black, white or purple, if they are the best players in the world at that sport then I want to watch them play.

[Going Underground]

2 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Listen to Baltimore sports talk show callers and tell me you want them to represent our fanbases views to the world. I've found about 10 percent of the callers to have interesting valid points. The rest are more like this, "Man, the Ravens screwed up that draft pick. They should have drafted that RB with the African name instead, can't remember his name but i think he went to Clemson or USC or something like that!" 

I picture the typical sports talk show caller as the guys who wouldn't last a day on OH.

I thought it was more like trade for Mike Trout. We give the Angels three players. Andino,Gentry and Wilson for him. They get three players for one.Also Trout will like it here because he will be closer to Jersey. Wait a minute that was me yesterday.