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With MLB fuming, ESPN's Colin Cowherd tries to explain his comments about Dominicans
With the MLB players' union upset at him and Toronto Blue Jays star Jose Bautista ready to "rip him a new one," ESPN radio's Colin Cowherd tried on Friday to remove the foot that he stuck in his mouth when talking about baseball players from the Dominican Republic. It wasn't enough, though, as MLB issued a statement afterward, condemning Cowherd's "inappropriate, offensive" remarks.
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Cowherd argued on his show Thursday that baseball isn't "too complex," citing as proof the number of Dominicans who play in MLB. Cowherd, who fancies himself a smart guy, obviously didn't see the fallacy here. Furthermore, this started with him talking about the Miami Marlins manager and then going off on a tangent to insult an entire country. Forget the offensive nature of his comment; it's just not sound logic.
So on Friday, Cowherd went on his show and tried to further explain himself. He took a few shots at Deadspin, which published a video of his comments, and implied he was taken out of context by the blogosphere. He eventually admitted he could have done better. It wasn't a direct apology, more of a do-over in which Cowherd stuck to his point but tried to articulate it better.
Here's the meat of it:
"I could’ve made the point without using one country, and there’s all sorts of smart people from the Dominican Republic,” Cowherd said Friday during The Herd. “I could’ve said a third of baseball’s talent is being furnished from countries with economic hardships, therefore educational hurdles. For the record, I used the Dominican Republic because they’ve furnished baseball with so many great players.”…
“I understand that when you mention a specific country, they get offended,” Cowherd said. “I get it. I do. And for that, I feel bad. I do. But I have four reports in front of me … where there are discussions of major deficiencies in the education sector at all levels. … It wasn’t a shot at them. It was data. Five, seven years ago I talked about the same subject. Was I clunky? Perhaps. Did people not like my tone? I get it. Sometimes my tone stinks.
“I think when you host a radio show, just like Jon Stewart hosts a show, I think sometimes I bring up stuff … that makes people cringe. I’m not saying there’s not intelligent, educated people from the Dominican Republic. I cringe at the data too.”
That wasn't enough for Major League Baseball, as a couple hours later, it issued a statement condemning Cowherd:
Major League Baseball condemns the remarks made by Colin Cowherd, which were inappropriate, offensive and completely inconsistent with the values of our game. Mr. Cowherd owes our players of Dominican origin, and Dominican people generally, an apology.
There are a number of current stars from the Dominican Republic, including Bautista, Albert Pujols, David Ortiz, Robinson Cano and Johnny Cueto. Past stars such as Pedro Martinez, Vladimir Guerrero and Juan Marichal also hail from the Dominican.
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There's surely some corporate pressure on Cowherd to own up to his mistake, as USA Today's Jorge L. Ortiz reported that the MLB players' union was going to leverage its anger against ESPN and Fox, whom Cowherd will reportedly join soon.
It wasn’t only Dominicans who were offended by Cowherd’s implication that players from that nation are not smart. The players association has not issued a formal statement, but a person close to the union assailed Cowherd’s professionalism and termed the comments ignorant and offensive.
The person, who spoke to USA TODAY Sports on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the topic, also said the lack of response from ESPN — and Cowherd's future employer, Fox, has upset its members just as much as the comments, and they will consider withholding cooperation with the networks. ESPN and Fox are national rightsholders to major league games, and Fox carries its jewel events, the All-Star Game and World Series.
Tony Clark, head of the players' union, issued the following statement Friday afternoon and it has some bite to it:
"As a veteran of fifteen MLB seasons, I can assure you that our sport is infinitely more complex than some in the media would have you believe. To suggest otherwise is ignorant, and to make an ignorant point by denigrating the intelligence of our Dominican members was not “clunky” -- it was offensive.
"These recent comments are particularly disappointing when viewed against the backdrop of the important work being done to celebrate and improve the cultural diversity of our game. Baseball's partners and stakeholders should help such efforts, not undermine them."
With MLB joining the players union on this issue, the pressure will only increase. Will Fox, with all its ties to MLB, be forced to act against a soon-to-be employee that it hasn't even formally announced yet?
Before Cowherd has to find out the hard way, it's time he issue a real apology.
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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
