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Tim Anderson and the suspension that Major League Baseball can't enforce


Tim Anderson plays shortstop for the Chicago White Sox and he's off to a fantastic start to the season.  Not only did he welcome his second daughter to the world in April, but statistically, he is off to the hottest start of his career and one of the hottest starts in the league.  He's hitting .422 for the year, with 4 home runs, and 7 stolen bases.  The batting average puts him at first in the American League.  Not too shabby.  



Anderson has also attracted some attention to himself for the newfound energy he has brought the game.  Anderson is one of the more energetic players I've seen lately and he's at the forefront of a new trend we're saying: bat flips and emotion are the new "in" thing.  His most recent bat flip was more of a throw than anything else.  We saw Bryce Harper excessively flip a bat when he hit a home run against his former team.  We've even seen pitchers start to get involved in the fun with their own version of a bat flip (the insiders call this "pimping" a strikeout).   The only problem with all of this is that it feels awfully similar to America in 2019 -- in the midst of a cultural clash.  The opposition to this newfound emotion is just as strong.  They insist that players "act like they've been there" and just carry on with their day as normal.  

 This cultural clash roared to the surface following one of Tim Anderson's at bats -- immediately following the "bat flip" event, Anderson was hit by a pitch and the benches cleared.  In the process, Anderson yelled a racial epithet towards the pitcher (the n-word).  It was this event -- and not anything else -- that yielded Anderson a 1-game suspension.  And it's this that I have a problem with: an unenforceable suspension.

 Note:  Yes, I realize that the suspension was enforced and Anderson took the suspension without appeal.  That's not my issue.

My issue is with something bigger.  The league has thrown down a suspension for something it can't enforce.  Sure, there have been a few suspensions over time regarding language.  It has happened.  But how strictly is the league enforcing those boundaries?  Has the league even bothered to establish a boundary in the first place?  It's not clear to me.  Is the league telling us that this is the first time this particular racial epithet was used ever?  

I personally disagree with using that particular word.  But as a white person (OK, half-Cuban), I am entitled to no opinion over that word.  And that's part of the reason I don't like the way that this suspension feels.  We haven't had a real conversation about race in baseball and yet we're levying a suspension based on a racial word.   Where is the standard exactly?  Where are the boundaries?  As I sit here typing, I recognize that this ball of yarn is pretty hard to unwind.  As Adam Jones and Marcus Stroman explained in their defense of Tim Anderson, the word in question here is fully embedded culturally as slang.  I'm not suggesting that's a problem for Major League Baseball, but it is something that needs to be discussed and addressed globally.  Are white players held to the same standards for any similarly-damaging words?  If not, why not?  The idea of a double-standard is particularly damaging for a league that is desperate for new talent and new fans.  

 The emotion-charged wave has been positive for baseball this year.  The decorum is important, but so is the emotion.  There is a place for both and maybe we'll tackle that topic at a later day.  But for now, we should be more concerned that the league has set itself up for failure at a critical juncture.


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