Marlins Players Respond to Racist Remarks at Fenway

The Miami Marlins are speaking out after Orioles OF Adam Jones faced racial slurs at Fenway Park on Monday.

A few Miami Marlins spoke out regarding this.

Smack talk is visible across all sports, with few taking it too far. One Boston Red Sox fan took it to another level during Monday’s night game against the Orioles, calling outfielder Adam Jones the n-word.

Apparently, this is nothing that current players haven’t seen before. Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald reported that Dee Gordon, Giancarlo Stanton, and Ichiro Suzuki have faced racist remarks while on the diamond before.

"“There’s more of that stuff than you would think,” said Dee Gordon, “[but] it’s not one isolated incident.”"

Gordon said he has never stood up against the insults though, just staying quiet. But it is now relevant that this is a national issue.

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Ichiro has also faced racism since leaving Japan’s NPB, and joining the Mariners in 2001. Suzuki has had “ice and coins,” thrown at him through his career, saying that occurrences like this “happen a lot”. Suzuki stated that players usually do not speak out against racist remarks though.

Even star-outfielder Giancarlo Stanton has faced racist remarks before. But he has stated that racism is much more prevalent in the Minor Leagues.

Fans that do insult players in this manor should be banned from baseball permanently. Red Sox president Sam Kennedy agrees with banning fans, who use offensive language against any player:

"We want to make sure that our fans know, and the market knows, that offensive language, racial taunts, slurs are unacceptable. If you do it, you’re going to be ejected. If you do it, you’re going to be subject to having your tickets revoked for a year, maybe for life. We’re going to look at that. We haven’t made any firm decisions but it just can’t happen."

Still a Ways to Go

It has been 70 years since Jackie Robinson‘s debut, yet racism is still prevalent in baseball. It is absurd that racist rhetoric has been poisoning the game for years, with the league never taking a stance.

More absurd is that this is the first time we are hearing about racism at the ballpark in the 21st century. Commissioner Manfred has a big task at hand now, and it is figuring how to combat racial insults towards players.

Next: Fish Down, Fish Up

It is good that news about these racist remarks is finally surfacing. Baseball is supposed to be a safe haven for it’s players, and remarks like this should never be said towards anyone.