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It may have been ignorance or insincerity. Or perhaps it was just a well-scripted apology to afford Anthony Bass a perceived easy escape route from a mess of his own making that could follow the Blue Jays deep into the next month.
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A month, by the way, that the team has elaborate and heavily marketed plans to celebrate its commitment to inclusion as it applies to the LGBTQ+ community.
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Whatever it was, the four words with which the Jays relief pitcher began his apology to fans and the Pride community weren’t exactly warm in sentiment.
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“I’ll make this quick,” Bass said before his 35-second, carefully crafted statement was delivered with little emotion to the “Pride community.”
While he said some of the right things, the media was told Bass would not be taking questions, again hoping for a clean and quick exit.
The reality is, however, that there’s a good chance that nothing will be a quick fix for the player or the organization, which was tellingly quiet by not addressing the issue and not allowing Bass to be questioned for his actions.
So of course there’s a chance this won’t end well.
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“I recognize yesterday I made a post that was hurtful to the Pride community, which includes friends of mine and close family members of mine and I’m truly sorry for that,” Bass said, stern-faced, when he addressed the media just outside the Jays dugout. “I just spoke to my teammates and shared with them my actions yesterday and I apologized with them.
“As of right now I’m using the Blue Jays resources to better educate myself and to make better decisions going forward.”
Bass’ dive into hot water began on Monday when the pitcher’s Instagram account shared a video from a user whose feed encourages Christians to boycott Target and Budweiser in protest of those companies’ support of the LGBTQ+ community.
The reaction was rightfully swift and not a good look for the team. Bass and the Jays were subsequently criticized both on social and mainstream media, especially in light of the team’s planned celebrations for Pride Month, a worthy initiative by the club.
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The Jays clearly hope it will be go away before the June 9-10 Pride weekend at the ballpark, which it has been advertising heavily.
The team did say in a statement that, “Individual player sentiments are not representative of the club’s beliefs.”
Jays manager John Schneider addressed the issue on Tuesday afternoon while he was trying to prepare his struggling team for a game against the Milwaukee Brewers.
To his credit, Schneider was forthright with his comments, noting that a simple apology from Bass can’t be the end of the reparation. And the manager was the one person in the organization willing to put on the big boy pants and venture into territory Bass wouldn’t (or, perhaps, wasn’t allowed to by the team when he didn’t take questions).
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“First and foremost, it’s not a 12- or 15-second fix,” Schneider said. “We’re not going to pretend like this never happened. We’re not going to pretend like this is the end of it and move on. There’s definitely more steps that are going to follow.”
Schneider took a leadership role in addressing the issue where others in the organization failed miserably. In fact, it was the manager’s initiative to get Bass to address his teammates.
“The first thing he did was apologize to me and (GM Ross Atkins),” Schneider said. “I thought it would be a good idea to tell it to his teammates as well. It takes a lot to stand up in front of them to say, ‘I screwed up.’
“I thought it would be good for him to let everyone know that at once, as opposed to intermittent conversations during the day.”
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Where it goes from here is anyone’s guess, though few would be surprised if the fallout lingers. Bass is still part of the Jays relief core and he will set up shop in the bullpen, the area that now has fans right on top of it at the remodelled Rogers Centre.
Are the Jays concerned that the fallout will be a distraction? Not for now, at least.
“I don’t think it will be in the clubhouse,” Schneider said. “I think his apology was authentic and powerful to both the coaching staff and his teammates.
“When it comes to how a fan base views you, whether it’s a player or a manager, you have to own up to things that you do,” Schneider said. “And you have to recognize when you do things that are hurtful or wrong, and you have to admit that and have things that you do going forward that won’t allow that to happen again.”
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiZ2h0dHBzOi8vdG9yb250b3N1bi5jb20vc3BvcnRzL2Jhc2ViYWxsL3Rvcm9udG8tYmx1ZS1qYXlzL2FudGhvbnktYmFzcy1sZ2J0cS1ibHVlLWpheXMtaW5zdGFncmFtLWFwb2xvZ3nSAQA?oc=5
2023-05-30 23:52:06Z
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