Tim Anderson Told Josh Donaldson to Stop Calling Him ‘Jackie’ in 2019

Donaldson claimed the reference to Jackie Robinson was a running joke between the two.

Like his teammates, Tim Anderson is not buying Josh Donaldson’s explanation for calling the White Sox shortstop “Jackie.”

Donaldson, who is white, was issued a one-game suspension after directing the flippant reference to Jackie Robinson at Anderson, who is Black, during Saturday’s game between the Yankees and White Sox. After the game, Donaldson admitted to making the comment, which sparked a bench clearing in the Bronx, and apologized. However, he claimed that the reference was a running joke between the two, dating back to a 2019 Sports Illustrated article in which Anderson said, “I kind of feel like today’s Jackie Robinson.”

White Sox manager Tony La Russa called Donaldson’s comment “racist.” Anderson agreed, while teammates Liam Hendriks and Yasmani Grandal, who confronted Donaldson prior to the bench clearing, forcefully rejected Donaldson’s explanation.

On Tuesday, Anderson revealed that he told Donaldson to stop calling him “Jackie” in 2019.

“I told him, we never have to talk again,” Anderson said, per ESPN’s Jesse Rogers, adding that no member of the Yankees has reached out to him. “I won’t speak to you, you won’t speak to me, if that’s how you’re going to refer to me. I knew he knew exactly what he was doing.”

Donaldson, currently on the COVID-19 list, played for Atlanta in 2019. Anderson added that the two did not have contact when the third baseman was with Minnesota in 2020 and 2021. But Donaldson dusted the comment off Saturday, causing yet another incident between him and the White Sox.

Anderson also exchanged words with Donaldson when the two teams met in Chicago earlier this month. Donaldson pushed Anderson off the base on an attempted pickoff play, ultimately resulting in a safe call and another bench clearing.

Donaldson also got into it with White Sox ace Lucas Giolito last season. He homered off the righty and yelled “Hands not sticky anymore,” alluding to MLB’s crackdown on pitchers using foreign substances. Afterward, Giolito called Donaldson a “pest” and said that he should discuss any issues face to face. Donaldson told reporters he proceeded to confront Giolito in the stadium’s parking lot.

On Saturday, Donaldson said that he took responsibility for the hard tag on Anderson and was trying to “make light” of the ongoing tension in an attempt to defuse things.

As for the “Jackie” comment? Donaldson said, “I’ve said it to him in years past. Not in any manner than just joking around for the fact that he called himself Jackie Robinson. So if something has changed from that – my meaning of that is not in any term trying to be racist by any fact of the matter. It was just off an interview. That’s what he called himself, and we’ve said that before. We joked about it. He laughed, whatever.

“Obviously, he deemed that it was disrespectful. And look, if he did, I apologize. That’s not what I was trying to do, by any manner.”

Donaldson’s would-be audience didn’t find the comment funny, or the reasoning believable, though.

“Usually, you have inside jokes with people you get along with,” Hendriks said, adding that Donaldson’s rationale was “complete bullshit.” Grandal said, “He lives in his own world.”

On Saturday, Anderson added, “It was disrespectful, and I don’t think it was called for. It was unnecessary.”

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