Yankees third baseman Josh Donaldson has spoken out about the racial controversy that surfaced after he called White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson “Jackie.” He was fined and suspended for one game following the incident that White Sox manager Tony La Russa deemed “racist.”
Donaldson called Anderson, who is Black, the name in reference to Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson, who broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947. Donaldson later explained that this was a reference to an inside joke between him and Anderson after the shortstop called himself “today’s Jackie Robinson” in an interview with Sports Illustrated in 2019.