Should the Baltimore Orioles make the playoffs this season, it will mean that every American League team has made the playoffs at least once since the start of the new millennium — every team except for two: the Kansas City Royals and the hard-luck Toronto Blue Jays. When they won their second-straight World Series in 1993, nothing seemed to be able to stop the Jays. But for the next 19 years, all the Jays excelled at was mediocrity — and their most recent scandal only makes matter worse.
Two weeks ago, Toronto shortstop Yunel Escobar made news when he wrote a homophobic slur on his eye paint during a game. Since the slur was written in Spanish, not everyone picked up on it right away. Of course, what made the story more interesting was the fact that many of Escobar’s teammates are Spanish-speaking and didn’t do so much as blink an eye when they saw the message on their teammate’s face. Those Spanish-speaking teammates actually excused Escobar’s behaviour claiming that whatever was written on his eye paint was acceptable and that when the word in question is used in many Central and South American countries, it means no harm. With that said, it certainly doesn’t take a genius to figure out that what’s okay in one region of the world may not be justifiable in another. A friend of mine once told me that in his native Iran, the thumbs-up gesture is the equivalent of the middle finger. So, before I plan my pilgrimage to research Ayatollah Khomeini’s life, I will have to come with at least a few other ways to tell someone in Tehran that they’ve done one heck of a job.
When asked about the slur, Escobar said, “It’s just a word.” The N-word is also just a word but you don’t see white players writing racially-insensitive remarks on their face. Maybe you’d have had an easier time finding something along those lines 60 years ago but certainly not today because, quite simply, the vast majority of players have more brains than they do gall.
Escobar went on to say that he didn’t mean to offend anyone nor was the slur directed at anyone. That may be the case but I have a hard time understanding why the slur was on his face to begin with. If that’s not enough, I can’t fathom why Jays manager John Farrell or general manager Alex Anthopoulos didn’t know anything about the slur before as this wasn’t the first time Escobar sported the word on his eye paint during a game. I don’t even care that Farrell or Anthopoulos don’t speak Spanish. There are enough players in that clubhouse to understand the slur and sadly, it’s obvious that none of them stopped to think how it might affect anyone in this part of the world.
Escobar went as far as excusing himself of such behaviour claiming that he has friends that are gay. How convenient. Since Escobar has gay friends, he couldn’t possibly say anything detrimental about homosexuality. I have friends who are avid followers of certain political parties, religions and, to a smaller extent, sports teams — but as much as I love those friends, I can’t support everything they stand for. “Well, I don’t like what the Conservatives are doing to our great nation but Billy likes them, so in that case…” No, I’m sorry but it doesn’t work that way. Saying you have gay friends doesn’t mean you found your way out of the woods. This is something far more complicated than that.
Escobar didn’t seem remorseful at all when he spoke at a press conference explaining his behaviour. In fact, Escobar spoke through a translator and while I’ve never met the shortstop personally, I can safely assume that after playing four years in Atlanta and now in his third year in Toronto, Yunel Escobar must speak at least passable English. This isn’t a case like Ichiro where not only was he alienated as one of the minute percentage of Japanese players in the Majors but before being traded to the Yankees earlier this summer, he did play in a city with one of the largest Japanese-speaking populations in all of North America. What was Escobar’s excuse? Watching him at the press conference was reminiscent of Sammy Sosa speaking through a translator to Congress in 2005 to deny ever using performance-enhancing drugs; the same Sammy Sosa that just seven years prior, spoke enough English to become America’s baseball sweetheart during his now-infamous home run chase with Mark McGwire. It’s bad enough that he wrote the slur, was unapologetic and hid behind his native tongue but if anyone finds Anita Bryant on Yunel Escobar’s iPod, there’s going to be some serious trouble brewing in T.O. What was Escobar thinking? Better yet, what were the Blue Jays thinking?
For the majority of the last few years, I felt sympathetic towards the Blue Jays organization. Here’s a team that every off-season vows that they’re going to contend for a pennant, using the young, promising club they’ve built. Yet, despite some fast starts, they stumble and in no time, look forward to the next season. While a part of me is sympathetic, a bigger part of me says good riddance to this team. Many suggest that I should support the Jays because they are Canada’s team (even though Brett Lawrie is the only Canadian-born player on the roster). In 2000, the Blue Jays thought they hit it big when Rogers Communications bought them. That’s when the money was going to start rolling in and naturally, the Jays were going to start contending. It didn’t quite work out that way.
While so many departed managers and GMs have complained how hard it is to compete in a division with the free-wheeling, high-spending (not to mention very talented) New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, they should know that it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that as long as free agency has been around, championships have never been built on paper. In 2008, I got a lot of pleasure out of watching the Tampa Bay Rays go from basement-dwellers to AL East champs virtually overnight. Since then, the Jays have found difficulty competing with divisional teams who not only spend a lot of money but who properly and patiently building a winning team. While the Yankees are having a great season in 2012, the Red Sox fell right off the map. The BoSox are wrapping up their worst season since 1997 which just goes to show that, again, money can’t buy success. However, they did break their 86-year championship drought in 2004 and, for good measure, won it all again in 2007. Instead of the Red Sox excelling this season, the Baltimore Orioles, plagued by ownership trouble and lacklustre teams for the last fifteen years are currently in a playoff spot and are even competing for the division title. Should the Orioles surpass the Yankees to win the AL East, it will mean that each of Toronto’s division rivals has won the AL East since 2007. It’s initially tough to find out why the Jays never seem to find success. But then when you hear John Farrell and Alex Anthopoulos play the ignorance card when it comes to a homophobic message not-so-subtley written on one of their player’s faces, it’s evident that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Escobar was suspended for three games for his behaviour and last night was his first game in Toronto since returning from said suspension. Amidst a few boos, Escobar caught the ceremonial first pitch from David Testo, a former Major League Soccer player who is openly gay. For that, I’ll give the Jays a gold star in the public relations department. While it may not be entirely fair to put a black mark on the Blue Jays organization for what one of their players did, an incident like this does show that this is a team which needs to pay closer attention to what’s going on in the clubhouse. Who knows, it may just lead to a playoff spot, a winning season or, or at the very least, respect.
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Ryan Cowley is a writer at Toronto Standard. Follow him on Twitter @RyanACowley.
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