Donaldson suspended

Major League Baseball suspended Josh Donaldson for one game Monday after the New York Yankees slugger made multiple references to Jackie Robinson while talking to Chicago White Sox star Tim Anderson during the weekend.

NEW YORK — Major League Baseball suspended Josh Donaldson for one game Monday after the New York Yankees slugger made multiple references to Jackie Robinson while talking to Chicago White Sox star Tim Anderson during the weekend.

Donaldson also was fined an undisclosed amount for his actions Saturday at Yankee Stadium. The punishment was announced by Michael Hill, the senior vice president of on-field operations for MLB.

Donaldson has elected to appeal the penalty. Shortly before the suspension was announced, the Yankees said Donaldson had been put on the covid-19 injured list.

“MLB has completed the process of speaking to the individuals involved in this incident. There is no dispute over what was said on the field. Regardless of Mr. Donaldson’s intent, the comment he directed toward Mr. Anderson was disrespectful and in poor judgment, particularly when viewed in the context of their prior interactions,” Hill said in a statement.

“In addition, Mr. Donaldson’s remark was a contributing factor in a bench-clearing incident between the teams, and warrants discipline,” he said.

White Sox pitching coach Ethan Katz didn’t think the penalty was enough.

“Just one game. We all saw his malice at third a week ago, then this comment with the ridiculous excuse that followed. What’s the point or message behind a 1 game suspension? This is incredibly disappointing and plain frustrating,” Katz posted on Twitter.

Donaldson said he twice called Anderson by “Jackie” — as in Robinson, who famously broke MLB’s color barrier in 1947 — during the Yankees’ 7-5 win on Saturday. The benches and bullpens emptied as tensions escalated.

Anderson, one of baseball’s leading Black voices and an AllStar shortstop, said it was a “disrespectful comment.”

“Basically, it was trying to call me Jackie Robinson. Like, ‘What’s up, Jackie?’ ” Anderson said after Saturday’s game.

Donaldson, who is white, said he had used the “Jackie” reference in the past with Anderson, who had said he viewed himself as a potential modern-day Robinson in a 2019 interview with Sports Illustrated.

“My meaning of that is not any term trying to be racist by any fact of the matter,” Donaldson said Saturday.

Anderson and Donaldson, the 2015 AL MVP, did not speak with the media on Sunday. Through a Yankees spokesman, Donaldson said he hadn’t talked with Anderson since the incident.