Red Sox President, Mass. Governor Condemn Fenway Park Racism
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Following claims made by Orioles outfielder Adam Jones that he had both racial slurs and a bag of peanuts hurled his way at Fenway Park Monday night, both the president of the Red Sox and the governor of the state of Massachusetts have released statements condemning the behavior.
The five-time All-Star said he was "called the N-word a handful of times" in quotes reported by USA Today Sports and The Boston Globe.
"It's unfortunate that people need to resort to those type of epithets to degrade another human being," Jones said.
RELATED: Report: Orioles OF Adam Jones Claims Racist Taunts In Boston
USA Today Sports reported that Red Sox officials confirmed that a fan also threw a bag of peanuts at Jones and was ejected from the stadium.
"It's pathetic. It's called a coward," Jones said.
"What they need to do is that instead of kicking them out of the stadium, they need to fine them 10 grand, 20 grand, 30 grand. Something that really hurts somebody."
In Red Sox President Sam Kennedy's statement, he said:
"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."
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker tweeted:
Boston's Mayor Marty Walsh spoke to CBS Boston WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Matt Ledin about the incident.
"I want to apologize. I'm upset about this. We don't condone this type of behavior in 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."
"I wish we could find out who these people were," said Walsh.
As for moving forward, "I think the Red Sox fans will step it up tonight, and I think they'll send a very positive message," Mayor Walsh said.
"I think that's what we do in Boston."
The Orioles' 5-2 victory Monday night marked the latest testy game between the AL East rivals this season, including a dustup in Baltimore just more than a week ago.
In the teams' previous meeting at Camden Yards, Boston reliever Matt Barnes sent a pitch that whizzed behind Manny Machado's head and hit the slugger's bat. Barnes was suspended four games and fined.
Machado had rankled the Red Sox with a late slide into second baseman Dustin Pedroia's left leg two days earlier. Pedroia missed a handful of games.
Orioles pitcher Dylan Bundy hit Mookie Betts near the left hip with a fastball Monday night, prompting loud boos.
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