Josh Donaldson (white) called Tim Anderson (black) “Jackie”, as in Jackie Robinson. This precipitated a bit of a scuffle between Donaldson and the CWS catcher. Tony LaRusso called the comment “racist”, and the press ran with that narrative, especially in the woke segment of sports media…vox, dead spin, etc. MLB suspended Donaldson for one game and he issued an apology to everyone, including the Robinson family. The next night, Yankees fans added to the brouhaha by chanting “Jackie, Jackie” at Anderson…who promptly hit a dinger. More handwringing about the state of America and it’s endemic racism.
On its face, knowing what you know now, was it racist?
Ok, the backstory. A few years ago, Anderson said of himself, “I kind of feel like today's Jackie Robinson," he says. "That's huge to say. But it's cool, man, because he changed the game, and I feel like I'm getting to a point to where I need to change the game." It turns out that ever since then Donaldson has been calling him “Jackie” as a way to get under his skin when they play. He was just mocking Anderson’s ridiculous view of himself. Is that racist?