The Cubs sent Carl Edwards Jr. down to Triple-a after a dreadful beginning to the 2019 season. His new delivery was deemed illegal by MLB, he couldn’t find the strike zone and had no confidence on the mound. He was frustrated, the team was frustrated and so were fans. And then you have racist people who can’t wait to spew their hatred.
According to The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney, MLB is investigating racist comments sent to Edwards in direct messages on Instagram.
Via The Athletic.
Amid his early-season struggles, Edwards received racist messages on Instagram that have drawn the attention of Major League Baseball, Cubs officials and the players’ union, multiple sources told The Athletic.
“We are aware of the situation,” an MLB spokesperson said Monday. “We have a team that works with social-media companies to take appropriate actions in situations like this.”
Edwards declined to comment on the story, as he continues to focus on returning back to the Cubs.
Theo Epstein condemned the racist and released the following statement.
“We were shocked by the racist, profanity-laced social media message sent to Carl Edwards Jr. earlier this month,” president of baseball operations Theo Epstein wrote in a statement released on behalf of the Cubs organization. “We vehemently condemn the content of the message and are supporting Major League Baseball’s investigation to identify the person responsible.
“In a sport that celebrates diversity and unites people from all backgrounds, we are appalled anyone claiming to be a fan would send divisive and bigoted insults to a player. Whether spoken, posted or published, this type of reprehensible language and views cannot be tolerated in our game or society.”
Lee Long, who represents Edwards, said the recent incidents go beyond fans expressing frustration, resorting to personal attacks and just being awful human beings with racist remarks.
So, what’s going to happen to these people? MLB and the Cubs with help from Instagram will probably identify the scumbag racists and they’ll be banned from the platform.
There’s nothing more that our society loves than publicly shaming people. So, yeah, let’s make these names public. But racist people don’t really care that they’re racist, they’re only embarrassed that they get caught, so they’ll just keep being racist.
And it will keep going because no matter how much someone is shamed there aren’t any real consequences.
What’s more sad is that Edwards is just one example of an awful culture in sports and life in general. He’s not the first black Cubs player who has been harassed with racist comments either from fans in the stands or on social media and sadly he probably won’t be the last.
We can hope racist people change, but what evidence is there that it’s actually going to happen. You want to ban racist baseball fans? Oh buddy, you’re going to have a lot of empty seats all across the country, more than there are already.
And that’s where we stand right now with that sad reality. I guess just keep fighting against racism, call it out, and hope those people change.