In World Series Game 3, Houston Astro Yuri Gurriel hit a home run off Dodgers pitcher, Yu Darvish. Darvish is Japanese, and although that shouldn’t matter in a baseball game, Gurriel decided to make a cheap, racist swipe part of his home run celebration.
Upon returning to the dugout, Gurriel pulled his eyes back to elongate them, and mouthed something that included referring to Darvish as a “chino” or “chinito”. His behavior was picked up by cameras and broadcast around the world on one of the international television broadcast feeds. What Gurriel thought hilarious was rightfully seen as an ignorant and ugly gesture grounded in stereotype and racism.
The imagery went viral, and in a move designed to appear “on top of things”, Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred met with Gurriel the very next morning, with Game 4 scheduled to take place in Houston later that evening. Speculation ran along the lines that Gurriel would face swift discipline, particularly since the offense was blatant, seen by an international audience, and baseball had previously suspended two players for using homophobic slurs.
After the meeting, Manfred held a press conference to announce that Gurriel will be suspended, without pay, for five games. The catch was, the discipline would not be immediate; the suspension was suspended until next season. Manfred explained his decision to put everything off until later with hollow rationalizations such as, suspending Gurriel that day would penalize all of his teammates, and Darvish, the victim, expressed a desire to move forward from the event.
Crass, unabashed racism reared its head, and because all of that beautiful World Series cash was involved, Manfred blinked. MLB is trying to expand its brand internationally, and despite the fact at least a third of its world-wide audience was directly mocked by Gurriel’s actions, Big Baseball cowered, coughed, and hoped all would be forgotten until next year.
Manfred must have forgotten the series would return to Los Angeles. He also forgot Darvish’s teammates would consider such a slur to be an act against all of them as well. It all came home to roost as Game 6 opened at Chavez Ravine last night.
Dodgers starter Rich Hill was personally upset that Gurriel escaped any blowback from his actions, and he knew, unlike the fans in Houston who gave Gurriel a standing ovation and mimicked his antics, the fans in Los Angeles would not be so tolerant of open racism.
When Gurriel stepped to the plate for his first at bat, Dodger Stadium erupted into the largest and loudest chorus of boos ever heard there. Juan Marichal never heard such boos. Barry Bonds never suffered such withering disapproval. Rich Hill took his time, walked out beyond the mound, and he let the crowd continue.
“I think the one thing was just to let the crowd speak their mind. I didn’t think anything else would be as loud as that. The people spoke. I left it to that, and that was it. – Rich Hill
Both times Gurriel came to bat with Hill on the mound, Hill repeated the formula. He would throw a pitch, and then take his sweet time, allowing the loud criticism from 54,000 fans to shower down.
“That was the best way to go about it, not hitting him or doing anything like that, but making sure that things like this shouldn’t happen.” – Rich Hill
There’s a story in Dodgers lore that on May 13, 1947, during Jackie Robinson‘s first major league season, the fans in Cincinnati were giving Robinson a particularly hard time. As legend has it, Dodgers shortstop Pee Wee Reese left his shortstop position and jogged over to first base, where he put his arm around Jackie in a show of solidarity and brotherhood. There remains to this day, some debate over whether or not that actually happened.
Last night, October 31, 2017, Rich Hill symbolically embraced his teammate in a show of solidarity against racism. That really happened – and we all saw it.
Oscar Martinez
I was born in the shadow of Dodger Stadium and immediately drenched in Dodger Blue. Chavez Ravine is my baseball cathedral, Vin Scully was the golden voice of summer all my life, and Tommy Lasorda remains the greatest Dodgers manager ever. My favorite things are coffee, beer, and the Dodgers beating the Giants. I also blog about my baseball card hobby at All Trade Bait, All the Time.
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Kudos to Rich and the fans who voiced the correct opinion that racism, especially the blatant disrespect given to a player on national television should not be tolerated in any form. I also credit Yu Darvish with being the bigger man in all of this. That being said, a well placed fastball somewhere under Gurriel’s chin during his first at bat would be appropriate too……..but Yu is not like Drysdale, who would definitely plant one in the guys ribs. Sometimes I really miss the old days!
Good word to spread.
I commented on previous thread, that was a great moment when Hill let the scorn flow freely and filled the air. I think that crap shouldn’t be tolerated especially by the fans and really all people with any decency. I was torn as to what to do with suspending the mfr, in many ways I like the idea of the Dodgers kicking the Asstros behinds and no excuse given because the mfr was suspended during the series. There really is no correct answer suspend him now and definitely affect the series or let him play in the series and wait till next season to suspend. Personally, it seems more fitting to let the mfr play and get his racist ass kicked as his team loses the series, then he not only gets the scorn from the public but he will face scorn inside his own clubhouse for pulling such a racist stunt and adding the shit to the whole mix. I’m sure someone will try and find a way to mix and parse my words, but I think most of you understand what I am saying about this whole disgusting and shameful situation.
GO DODGERS!!!!
EDDINGEReddingerEdDINGEReDDINGEREDdingeredDINGEReDdinger, good karma baby, good karma!!!