MLB Considers Guidelines to Deal with Racial Taunts

Nothing bad could come from this, right?

Just when you thought America had finished hysterically overreacting to the alleged racial taunting of Orioles center fielder Adam Jones at Fenway Park last week, Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred has announced that MLB will review how individual teams handle incidents of racial taunts, and might consider implementing league-wide guidelines on such incidents.

Manfred said the purpose of these efforts would be to, “…provide our players with an environment where they feel comfortable in every major league stadium that they play.”

He added, “We want to make sure that we know exactly what the clubs are doing before we start recommending changes. We’re in the process of gathering information right now.”

It’s important to note that the fan who allegedly shouted racial slurs at Jones was banned from Fenway Park for life. What additional punishments or “guidelines” could the league possibly implement, over and above banning someone for life?

Also, who exactly will, pardon the pun, “umpire” whether or not a racial taunt actually took place? Suppose an African-American player gets heckled by a fan. Not racially, just heckled, and the player gets fed up with it. If the new racial taunting policy mandates that a fan gets banned for life for any use of a racial slur, that player could conceivably have the fan ejected for life by accusing him of saying something racist.

And, who would come to rushing to the fan’s defense? The Monday Morning Quarterback’s Albert Breer found himself subjected to an avalanche of hate from fans, and the media, for daring to ask for proof that Jones had been racially heckled. After that experience, how many journalists will line up to defend the “racist,” or even ask for proof that the fan behaved like a racist?

If teams need any guidelines for how to handle racial taunting, they can look to how the Red Sox handled it: simply remove the racist fan, or tell their players to get over it. What no one needs is a racial police act, geared towards prosecuting fans just so MLB can curry favor with the PC overseers they so clearly mean to impress.

Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter: @themightygwinn