"I don't think he's racist" - When Brian Cashman defended ex-Yankee Josh Donaldson amid allegations of racism

Josh Donaldson, a former New York Yankees third baseman, was at the center of controversy in 2022. He found himself in hot water after calling then-Chicago White Sox player Tim Anderson “Jackie,” which was a reference to legendary player Jackie Robinson, during a game.

Donaldson apologized and said that he did not mean any disrespect to Anderson, who is Black. However, Anderson took offense.

"He just made a disrespectful comment," Anderson said. "Basically, he was trying to call me Jackie Robinson. 'What's up, Jackie?' I don't play like that. I don't really play at all. I wasn't really going to bother nobody today, but he made the comment, and you know it was disrespectful and I don't think it was called for. It was unnecessary."

Donaldson, who is white, claimed later that his "Jackie" term was related to a 2019 Sports Illustrated interview with Anderson in which Anderson said that he was feeling like Jackie Robinson, who broke the color barrier in the major leagues.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman defended Donaldson by saying that the comment was not intentionally racist but was misunderstood.

“Josh Donaldson, to this day, I don’t think he’s racist,” Cashman said. “It was just something that happened and took on a different tone. I didn’t know how this was going.

"I just knew it was a very serious circumstance, and it was creating a lot of uncomfortableness. Having to work through that, talk through that, live through that was obviously very difficult for everybody involved from New York to Chicago.”

Josh Donaldson announces retirement

Josh Donaldson, the 2018 AL MVP, announced his retirement after 13 years on March 4 on “The Mayor’s Office” podcast hosted by Sean Casey.

“It’s sad because I’ll be not able to go out there and play the game that I love anymore, but it’s also a very happy time that I get to be around the family and kind of take that next chapter in life,” Donaldson said.

“As things kind of kept transpiring, I just really felt it had to be a perfect situation for me to go back and play. There were a couple of opportunities out there, but at the end of the day, things weren’t really clicking and meshing for myself to be ready and go into a season mentally and physically ready to play.”

Donaldson finished his career with 279 homers in 1,383 games.