Milwaukee Brewers Pitcher Josh Hader’s Twitter account garnered more attention than his pitching performance in MLB’s All-Star Game on Tuesday night.
Users resurfaced a handful of his most ignorant, now-deleted, tweets from 2011-2012 – when he was under the age of 18 and still in high school. Such tweets included: “i don’t give a damn, i’m triply n—-r, f–k my lungs, f–k my liver!”, “Had her bouncing on my d–k like a seesaw”, and “I hate gay people.”
On Wednesday, Major League Baseball officially announced Hader would be facing minor repercussions for his actions. He will be required to attend sensitivity training as well as participate in the league’s diversity and inclusion initiatives.
MLB will not suspend Josh Hader but says: “The Office of the Commissioner will require sensitivity training for Mr. Hader and participation in MLB’s diversity and inclusion initiatives.”
— Tom (@Haudricourt) July 18, 2018
Despite the outrage geared towards Hader, MLB certainly made the right move in not fining or suspending him for his actions.
It’s clear these are things he should not be saying, let alone on one of the world’s largest websites. However, he was a minor at the time, not playing for the Brewers organization. He also immediately took accountability for his words following the All-Star Game. “There’s no excuse for what was said,” Hader told reporters. “I’m deeply sorry for what I’ve said, and it doesn’t reflect any of my beliefs going on now. I was young, immature and stupid, and there’s no excuses for what was said or what happened.”
“As a child, I was immature and obviously said some things that were inexcusable,” he added. “That doesn’t reflect on who I am as a person today, and that’s just what it is. We’re still learning who we are in high school. You live and you learn. This mistake won’t happen again.”
Hader was defended by his teammate, outfielder Lorenzo Cain, who was an All-Star and is African American. He reiterated that the Hader that he knows is not a hateful person. “We all said some crazy stuff when we’re young,” Cain told reporters. “That’s one reason why I don’t have social media is because of things like this. You always get in trouble for things you said when you’re younger. We’ll move on from it. The situation is what it is. I know Hader, he’s a great guy. I know he’s a great teammate. I’m fine. Everybody will be OK.”
Fellow Brewers All-Star, Jesus Aguilar, who is Afro-Venezuelan, also tweeted his support for Hader on Wednesday.
First of all I want to show my support to my friend and teammate, Josh Hader.
He made a mistake 7 years ago. He admitted, he apologized and most important: He learned from it.
— Jesus Aguilar (@JAguilarMKE) July 18, 2018
If Hader truly were a bigoted person, it would be hard to imagine him fitting in well with a league where 36.3 percent of its players in 2016 were non-white.
Fans certainly have the right to be upset with Hader’s words. They don’t have to accept his apology. That’s their choice. However, it’s not exactly fair to label him a bad person without knowing him personally, as some have done.
Never thought that tonight would turn from “Josh Hader is one of the better relievers in all of baseball” to “Hader is such a terrible human being.” Yikes.
— Max Wildstein (@MaxWildstein) July 18, 2018
John Rocker in a bar somewhere today: “I was one of the biggest bigots to ever play in baseball.”
Josh Hader: “Hold my beer.”
— Jason Page (@TheBackPage) July 18, 2018
Young and Dumb is not an excuse to be racist. When young black kids are young and dumb the justice system puts them in jail. They weren’t joke tweets they were legit hate tweets from Hader. Rap lyrics can’t get you out of this.
— Robert Littal (@BSO) July 18, 2018
Were his tweets in poor taste? Absolutely, and he recognizes that now. The prefrontal cortex of the brain is not fully developed until a human is 25 years old, which indicates he is likely a significantly more rational thinker now than he was than at the time of these tweets.
If MLB did suspend Hader, that would not have been fair to the Brewers. Headed into the All-Star break, they’re only 2.5 games behind the first place Chicago Cubs in the NL Central standings and have a one game lead in the NL Wild Card race. They are a borderline playoff team this season and denying them their dominant left-handed reliever could certainly cost them a game or two and in turn, their entire season. Hader is 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA in 31 outings this season and has struck out 89 batters in just 48 innings while holding opposing hitters to a .122 batting average.
Ultimately, MLB did have to do something to avoid bad press, hence the sensitivity training–even if such classes are useless. Fortunately though, they decided they should not be the ones punishing Hader. After all, he will be facing the consequences for what he said from fans for years to come anyways.
Tom Joyce (@TomJoyceSports) is a freelancer writer who has been published with USA Today, the Boston Globe, Newsday, ESPN, the Detroit Free Press, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Federalist, and a number of other media outlets.
