The Boston Red Sox released a statement on Tuesday apologizing for the racial abuse Baltimore Orioles center fielder Adam Jones dealt with from fans the night before.
The Red Sox confirmed that a fan was ejected from the game for throwing a bag of peanuts at Jones, and the team said it is “sickened” to learn that fans were using racist taunts.
“The Red Sox want to publicly apologize to Adam Jones and the entire Orioles organization for what occurred at Fenway Park Monday night,” the statement read. “No player should have an object thrown at him on the playing field, nor be subjected to any kind of racism at Fenway Park. The Red Sox have zero tolerance for such inexcusable behavior, and our entire organization and our fans are sickened by the conduct of an ignorant few. Such conduct should be reported immediately to Red Sox security, and any spectator behaving in this manner forfeits his/her right to remain in the ballpark, and may be subject to further action. Our review of last night’s events is ongoing.”
Jones told a reporter after Baltimore’s 5-2 win that he was called the N-word a “handful of times” and said it was one of the worst cases of fan abuse he has ever endured. He also called for Major League Baseball to find a more severe way to punish fans. You can read Jones’ full comments here.
With a rivalry brewing between the Orioles and Red Sox after what happened with Manny Machado last month, Baltimore players are going to hear a lot more heckling when they visit Fenway Park. Heckling is one thing, but racism and throwing objects at players crosses the line. The fan who was ejected should be banned for life.
