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| Yuli Gurriel's racist gesture was caught by TV cameras. |
THE WORLD SERIES is long over but the incident where one of the players made a racist gesture to an Asian player on the opposing team still continues to be a source of conversation during MLB meetings held last week in Orlando.
For those of you who don't have the time to surf the Internet, let me bring your attention to this article in TheAthletic.com in which some prominent Asian Americans react to punishment meted out to Houston Astros player Yuli Gurriel.
During Game 3 of the series, after Gurriel hit a home run off of Dodger starter Yu Darvish, who is from Japan, Gurriel did the slanted eyes-bit from the dugout and called Darvish, "chinito," which translates into "Little Chinese" but, as we learned later, is a term applied to all Asians in some Latin countries.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred acted quickly and the next day announced his punishment: Gurriel would be suspended without pay for the first five games of next season.
Fans reacted as might be expected. Houston fans gave Gurriel a loud standing ovation the next game when Gurriel came up to bat. Dodger fans, in contrast, showered the Cuban player with a continuous loud unremitting chorus of boos when the series returned to Los Angeles in Games 6 and 7.
While Darvish, a native of Japan, and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who is half Japanese, was forgiving of the Cuban ballplayer, some prominent Asian/Americans believe Manfred and baseball struck out by failing to give Gurriel a more immediate, resounding punishment—a one-game suspension during the Series.
RELATED: Ballplayer receives 5-day suspension for racist gesture
The Japanese American Citizens League executive director, David Inoue, issued a statement on Oct. 28 critical of baseball for postponing Gurriel’s suspension and said he sent a private message to Manfred as well.
“MLB did drop the ball on this by not doing something during the World Series,” said the statement. “There were some people who were calling for a suspension for the rest of the World Series. But one game, that sends the message that look, this is an issue that is more important than the game, that is above the competition of this game and strikes to the core of the values of the organization. They made the value judgment that, ‘Racism is going to be OK, and we’ll accept it in this situation,’”
“For me, this was the one opportunity for Major League Baseball to show its hand with respect to honor or dishonor,” said Don Yee, a sports agent who represents Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. “And I felt that if the commissioner had issued a one-game suspension during the World Series, for me, as an Asian-American, it would have said that Major League Baseball is a game of honor, irrespective of how big the World Series is.”
Manfred told The Athletic last week that he was aware that his decision was met with less-than-unanimous approval. “I’ve had communication from advocacy groups. I’m aware some people don’t agree with the discipline,” Manfred said. “I’ve tried to be thoughtful about accepting their input on the issue.”
Yee, however, said the issue is particularly sensitive for Asian/Americans, many of whom believe discrimination against them is taken less seriously than racist insults against other minorities, and that Gurriel’s punishment might have been harsher if his gesture had been directed at, say, an African/American, Jewish or gay player.
To many Asian/Americans the delayed suspension was a case of a missed opportunity. MLB whiffed.
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