Aaron Boone says there was 'no malicious intent' in Josh Donaldson's 'Jackie' comment to Tim Anderson
Yankees third baseman Josh Donaldson returns to the dugout after flying out against the White Sox during the fourth inning in Game 1 of an MLB doubleheader at Yankee Stadium on Sunday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Aaron Boone walked a fine line Sunday, showing support for one of his players while also acknowledging that Josh Donaldson went somewhere he absolutely “should not be going” in on-field comments to White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson.
Donaldson touched off a pair of bench-clearing incidents between the clubs Saturday by calling Anderson “Jackie,” a reference to Jackie Robinson. He later said “I thought that was a joke between him and I” based on a comment Anderson once made in a Sports Illustrated story.
MLB said Saturday that it was investigating the incident. On Sunday, Boone said he had spoken with Michael Hill, the league’s senior vice president of on-field operations, but did not elaborate. During the ESPN broadcast of Game 2 on Sunday night, Buster Olney reported that a decision about any possible discipline could be announced Monday.
Donaldson was in the lineup Sunday for Game 1 of the doubleheader against the White Sox; Anderson was not. Donaldson was not in the starting lineup of Game 2 but Anderson was, and he was loudly booed his first two times up. He hit a three-run homer to cap a five-run eighth in Chicago’s 5-0 victory.
Speaking after Saturday’s 7-5 victory, Donaldson said he had jokingly called Anderson ‘’Jackie’’ as far back as 2019. Donaldson referenced a Sports Illustrated story from 2019 in which Anderson characterized himself as “today’s Jackie Robinson” in that, just as Robinson changed the game forever, Anderson hoped to change the sport by adding more fun to a game that hasn’t always embraced it.
“We talked about it before,” said Donaldson, who was confronted by White Sox catcher Yasmani Grandal when he batted in the fifth Saturday, touching off the second incident. “And, as I said, let me mention it again: He’s called himself Jackie Robinson. That’s why I thought it was funny between us.”
No one else involved saw the humor. “He made a disrespectful comment, trying to call me Jackie Robinson — ‘What’s up, Jackie?’” Anderson said Saturday. “I don’t play like that. I don’t really play at all. I wasn’t even bothering anybody. It was disrespectful and I don’t think it was called for . . . It happened in the first, the first time he got on, and I spared him that time, then it happened again. It was just uncalled for.”
Boone, in saying Sunday “I don’t believe there was any malicious intent with that regard,” added: “This is just somewhere, in my opinion, he should not be going.”
Boone said Donaldson spoke with some of his teammates one-on-one regarding what happened and that he also spoke with Boone in his office in a meeting attended by a handful of teammates.
“I’m sure he’ll continue to do that,” Boone said of Donaldson addressing it with teammates, saying later “my sense” is the incident won’t cause any clubhouse discord.
After the doubleheader, Donaldson said through a team spokesperson that he had not yet talked to Anderson but still is open to it.
In the visiting clubhouse Sunday, it was clear that Saturday’s events still were fresh.
“In this clubhouse, we have TA’s back in everything,” closer Liam Hendriks, referring to Anderson, told reporters before Game 1 of the doubleheader. “That was just a completely unacceptable thing, and trying to whip it out as being an inside joke, that’s [expletive]. They don’t have those sorts of things going on. It’s like having an inside joke with a guy who you are a nemesis with, I guess you could say? But that’s not how it went down in this clubhouse, and I don’t understand how he ever thought about it like that. It’s just straight delusional.”
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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