After The Week Tim Anderson Just Had, I Owe Josh Donaldson a Huge Apology

Last year, I was hard on Josh Donaldson.

He and Tim Anderson cleared the benches after Donaldson called him “Jackie”. In an interview a few years earlier, Tim Anderson referred to himself as this generation’s Jackie Robinson because he was changing the game or something.

I called Josh Donaldson at worst, racist, and at best, ignorant.

But this week, Tim Anderson made me realize Josh Donaldson was in the right this whole time and he deserves an apology.

Tim Anderson started the week getting his head punched off his shoulders by Jose Ramirez after Ramirez slid into second base and Anderson tagged him a little too hard in the face for no reason.

Jose Ramirez sent Tim Anderson back in time pic.twitter.com/8iCXPycPZH

— Dead Serious (@Deadseriousness) August 6, 2023

After the game, Jose Ramirez made it seem as if Anderson had been doing shady tags on the field for awhile now.

“It’s not from yesterday or from before. I even had the chance to tell him during the game, ‘Don’t do this stuff. That’s disrespectful. Don’t start tagging people like that.’ In reality, we’re here trying to find ways to provide for our families … (T)hen as soon as the play happened, he tagged me again really hard, more than needed, and then he reacted and said, ‘I want to fight.’ And if you want to fight, I have to defend myself.”

Jose Ramirez wants to clock in, play some baseball, clock out and go home to his family. Tim Anderson wants to tag people in the face and fight.

But some more Anderson character assassinations came out this week. Last month, Anderson got into a heated exchange with his own teammate, Yasmani Grandal.

Apparently, Grandal wanted to start his All-Star break a day early because he wasn’t in the lineup that day. For whatever reason, Tim Anderson took this personally and came at Grandal offering to personally remove him from the clubhouse since Yasmani wanted to leave so badly.

Yasmani then slapped Tim Anderson in the face before the two were separated.

Again, I’d like to apologize to Josh Donaldson. Jose Ramirez and Yasmani Grandal both two-pieced Tim Anderson for acting out of pocket. I’m now understanding why Donaldson called him “Jackie”. Josh wasn’t doing a racism.

No, he was mocking Tim Anderson for comparing himself to one of the most important baseball players of all time. It’s actually funny now knowing how everyone in the league treats Anderson like a Bop It.

It even happened again Monday night when the Yankees played the White Sox when Gerrit Cole torched him with a 97mph off the arm.

Tim Anderson looks shaken up after Gerrit Cole drills him with a 97 MPH fastball pic.twitter.com/ZxbRlziREb

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) August 8, 2023

Tim Anderson had one big bat flip go viral and thought he was the king of baseball for it. Meanwhile, the rest of the league knew he wasn’t really that guy and have been waiting for the opportunity to smack him up for years.

This season, Anderson has been in more fights (2) than he has home runs (1). Entering the final year of his contract, this might be the end of the Tim Anderson era.

I wonder if MLB will retire his jersey across the league like they did with Jackie Robinson.

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