Red Sox Apologize To Orioles' Adam Jones; Mookie Betts Asking Fans To Stand Up For Jones
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Boston Red Sox are "sickened" by claims from Baltimore outfielder Adam Jones that racist remarks were yelled at him during Monday night's game at Fenway Park.
The team has launched an investigation after Jones told USA Today that he was "called the N-word a handful of times" late in the Orioles 5-2 victory.
"It's unfortunate that people need to resort to those type of epithets to degrade another human being," Jones told the paper.
The Red Sox confirmed Monday night that a fan was ejected from the stadium for throwing a bag of peanuts at Jones. In a statement released on Tuesday, the team apologized to Jones and said such behavior is unacceptable:
"The Red Sox want to publicly apologize to Adam Jones and the entire Orioles organization for what occurred at Fenway Park Monday night. 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."
Fact: I'm Black too ✊????Literally stand up for @SimplyAJ10 tonight and say no to racism. We as @RedSox and @MLB fans are better than this.
— Mookie Betts (@mookiebetts) May 2, 2017
The Red Sox told WBZ-TV's Dan Roche there were 34 ejections at Fenway Monday night, one for the person who threw peanuts at Jones and one for language toward a player. There are normally 12-to-15 ejections per game at Fenway, according to the team.
Baseball Commissioner Robert D. Manfred also issued a statement on the incident on Tuesday:
"The racist words and actions directed at Adam Jones at Fenway Park last night are completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated at any of our ballparks. My office has been in contact with the Red Sox, and the club has made it clear that they will not tolerate this inexcusable behavior. Our 30 Clubs will continue to work with fans and security to provide a family-friendly environment. Any individual who behaves in such offensive fashion will be immediately removed from the ballpark and subject to further action.
"The behavior of these few ignorant individuals does not reflect the millions of great baseball fans who attend our games."
Boston Mayor Walsh apologized on behalf of the city Tuesday morning.
"I'm upset about this," Walsh told WBZ NewsRadio 1030. "Certainly we don't condone this type of behavior. The City of Boston, the Red Sox organization doesn't condone this type of behavior. It's an unfortunate incident, and it should not reflect the city, who we are as Boston."
The Red Sox and Orioles resume their four-game series Tuesday night at Fenway Park.
The Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo discusses the incident with Zolak & Bertrand: