Boone: Donaldson shouldn’t have made ‘Jackie’ comment

Aaron Boone spoke with Josh Donaldson and other Yankees about Saturday’s incident involving Tim Anderson, and he believes that Donaldson should not have invoked Jackie Robinson’s name in his exchange with the White Sox shortstop.

Chicago manager Tony La Russa charged that Donaldson made a “racist” comment when he said on the field to Anderson, who is black, “What’s up Jackie,” leading to a benches-clearing incident later in the Yankees’ 7-5 victory. Donaldson contended after the game that he was joking about Anderson referring to himself in a 2019 Sports Illustrated story as “the modern-day Jackie Robinson.”

“I understand that Josh has been very forthcoming with the history of it, the context of it. I don’t believe there was any malicious intent with that regard. This is just somewhere in my opinion he should not be going,” Boone said before the Yankees were swept by the White Sox in a doubleheader.

Boone acknowledged that he also was immediately bothered to learn that Robinson’s name was used before hearing Donaldson’s public and private explanations.

“When I first heard the name Jackie mentioned, I was really taken aback and frankly upset about it myself,” Boone said. “I think when you go back to the context, the original story of where it was born out of, out of the article, and then now a few years of saying that, I’m less taken aback by it at that point.

“But again, I sit here, as a white guy that it did change the context for me, but I also understand how it can be offensive or upsetting.”

Boone said he also has spoken with Michael Hill, MLB’s senior vice president of onfield operations about the incident as part of the league’s investigation into the matter. Boone also met with Donaldson in his office with several teammates present before the first game. The veteran third baseman also addressed his teammates individually, with Boone adding, that his “sense” is this won’t be an issue in the Yankees’ clubhouse.

“Again, I think Josh has been very forthcoming and I think was forthcoming yesterday about the history of it,” Boone said. “Not that that makes it a great thing, but it definitely changes the context in my opinion about it. But I certainly understand this is sensitive and you gotta read the room in that sense.”

Donaldson went 0-for-4 in the opener but didn’t appear in Game 2, while Anderson sat out Game 1 before recording three hits, highlighted by a three-run homer off Miguel Castro in the eighth inning to silence the booing Bronx crowd. Neither player spoke to the media before or after Chicago’s doubleheader sweep, and they did not speak with each other Sunday, according to a Yankees spokesman.

But White Sox closer Liam Hendriks wasn’t buying his explanations.

“Completely inappropriate,” Hendriks said. “And then after hearing what was said after the game, usually you have inside jokes with people you get along with, not people that don’t get along at all. So that statement right there was complete bulls---.”

Hendriks, who was a teammate of Donaldson’s with the Blue Jays in 2015, said players on other teams have had poor experiences with him when they shared a clubhouse.

“My feelings towards the individual in question are pretty well-documented, the fact that we don’t get along,” Hendriks said. “And the fact that I have now spoken to I think it’s four separate clubhouses that he’s been into? And as a whole, none of them have gotten along [with Donaldson]. So him trying to whip out that narrative is complete and utter bulls--t. … I don’t understand how he ever thought about it like that. It’s just straight delusional.”