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Liam Hendriks, understandably, isn't buying Josh Donaldson's ridiculous explanation of his racist remarks to Tim Anderson. The Chicago White Sox pitcher didn't just defend his teammate while speaking with reporters about the incident, though. He also shined a light on Donaldson's ugly reputation across multiple clubhouses in Major League Baseball.
Responding to Donaldson's hollow justification that calling Anderson—among a small group of American-born Black players in baseball—”Jackie” during Saturday's game was an “inside joke,” Hendriks pulled no punches against the New York Yankees slugger. The Australian ace also criticized MLB Network's pro-Donaldson coverage of the incident, which he called “bulls***.”
Liam Hendriks, on Josh Donaldson's explanation for what he said to Tim Anderson: "Usually you have inside jokes with people you get along with — not people who don't get along at all. So that statement right there was complete bullshit."
— Andy McCullough (@ByMcCullough) May 22, 2022
Hendriks was also unhappy w/ MLB Network's discussion of the incident, which he felt favored Donaldson's explanation. "MLB Network’s take on it was horseshit last night. Watching that, that was bullshit. That was absolutely un-fucking-believable that they went that way with it."
— Andy McCullough (@ByMcCullough) May 22, 2022
https://twitter.com/CST_soxvan/status/1528423132222177280
Good on Hendriks for standing up for Anderson and calling out MLB Network's irresponsible, tone-deaf response to Donaldson's racist trash talk. He deserves credit for linking it to the 2015 AL MVP's long history of making teammates uncomfortable, too.
MLB announced on Saturday that it has launched an investigation into Donaldson's comment to Anderson, which occurred in the first inning. The pair shared heated words as entering the bottom half of the third inning, and White Sox catcher Yasmani Grandal stood up from his crouch to jaw at Donaldson two innings later, telling reporters after the game that “you don't want me to tell you guys what I told him.”
New York beat Chicago 7-5. The teams meet again on Sunday.
