Yunel Escobar was greeted with a chorus of boos in his first home game with the Toronto Blue Jays Thursday night. Escobar was suspended for three games after writing an anti-gay slur on his eye-black two weeks ago and played his first game in Tampa Bay.
“He understands whatever comes his way is part of the process,” Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos told CTV Toronto. “He made a terrible mistake and is going to have to be accountable.”
Blue Jays manager John Farrell had contemplated keeping Escobar out of the game, but decided against it. Escobar caught the ceremonial first pitch from David Testo, an openly gay former MLS soccer player and a board member for You Can Play, an advocacy group for LGBT athletes.
In addition to the suspension, Escobar’s salary during his ban, $82,000, was donated to GLAAD and You Can Play. Prior to the game, Escobar also sat down with YCP’s founder Patrick Burke and openly gay long distance runner Jose Estevez from Boston College.
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“I think it put a face on the issue for Yunel,” Burke said of the meeting. “I think it humanized the issue of gay athletes for Yunel and I think Jose did a great job today…I think he did a stupid thing but I think he has learned from it.”
“He’s really sorry for what he did and I felt the sincerity when I was talking to him,” Estevez added.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering, the Blue Jays lost 6-0 to the Yankees – further adding insult to…insults.
erasure25
They should just ban this guy for life. What’s the point of putting that on your eye liner? It wasn’t a slip of the toungue during an interview. It was literally premeditated bigotry. The sport is more tarnished with this homophobe playing. At least ban him for a season.
doug105
Yes lets become just as unforgiving as those that hate us that will show them.
FStratford
@erasure25:
We need allies. and if this guy makes a 360 and becomes a spokesman, then this is a good thing. He has fans that will learn through him as well
Spike
Cause . . . Effect.
This is a consequence to his action, pretty simple. No sympathy.
Shanestud
Only in Canada could a stadium filled with jocks and sports fans boo a homophobic baseball player. Don;t tell me that federally legalizing same-sex marriage, enacting hate speech and strong anti-discrimination laws don’t have an effect on society. Even the Canadian jocks in the stands won;t stand for intolerance. Way to go Toronto!!
Darling Nikki
Did Anyone watch/hear the game last night???!!!
I heard more cheers coming through on the television and radio broadcasts of the game than any boos. Suzyn Waldman even remarked there were very few boos with a concerned voice on the radio broadcast. And yes, I’m that kind of Yankee fan that has the tv and radio on at the same time.
And he was cheered throughout the game. So I don’t get the info above, since THE YANKEES LOST 6 – 0 to the BLUE JAYS, seriously, this is all wrong.
So the real insult is you need to check the story before publishing it.
Eric Auerbach
@Shanestud:
Yeah, that’d be great if it had happened. It wasn’t “a stadium filled with jocks and sports fans” who bood a homophobic baseball player. It was just a few guys booing, and just as many (actually, probably more) cheering.
But yeah, that fantasy you described sounds *great.*
kevininbuffalo
I’m not a baseball fan, though I think Tim Lincecum is cute. The Jays did win 6-0 according to their website. Makes you wonder how accurate Queerty is about other things.
Also, IMO the $82,000 to GLAAD and YCP sounds a lot like a shakedown to me. Type of stuff
Jesse Jackson use to do to businessmen who incurred his wrath. He should have apologized but the rest of it smacks of re education camps.