Giants 1B Coach Antoan Richardson Claims Padres’ Coach Comments ‘Reeked Undertones of Racism,’ Led to Ejection

Antoan Richardson
Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images
Warner Todd Huston

An altercation between Giants first base coach Antoan Richardson and Padres third base coach Mike Shildt led to Richardson’s ejection on Tuesday, reports note.

Richardson, who was ejected for “instigating” after following Shildt to the Padres’ dugout and yelling out to him, later claimed that Shildt was acting racist and acting as if Richardson was “enslaved” when he spoke to members of the Giants, according to KNBR.

According to reports, Shildt was looking for Giants pitcher Alex Wood but apparently felt that Richardson was taunting him or acting belligerently toward him. Before walking off, Shildt reportedly told Giants Manager Gabe Kapler, “you need to control that motherfucker,” a reference Richardson assumed was aimed his way.

Richardson later claimed that Shildt had unleashed a comment that “reeked undertones of racism.”

“What happened was the third base coach from the San Diego Padres was looking into our dugout, and I said, ‘Can I help you, are you looking for somebody?’ And he says to me: ‘I didn’t say anything to you.’ I said ‘I know, I want to know if I can help you.’ At this time, he’s walking toward our dugout. He says, ‘Hey, I was looking for Alex Wood.’ At that point, Kap came over to kind of defuse the situation. I turned to Woody and I said, ‘Hey Woody, Shildt is looking for you.’ At that point in time, Shildt started to walk back toward third base. He yelled ‘You need to control that motherfucker.’ At that point in time, I went to the top step and said, ‘excuse me.’ Because I couldn’t believe what I heard. At that point in time, the crew chief decided to toss me from the game.

“I say this because his words were disproportionately unwarranted and reeked undertones of racism when he referred to me as ‘that motherfucker’ as if I was to be controlled or a piece of property or enslaved. I think it’s just really important we understand what happened tonight. And the second part that’s equally disappointing is that me being tossed by that umpire empowers this coach to continue to have conversations like that with people like me. And that’s really unfortunate that’s what happened tonight.”

Richardson also denied using foul language that may have escalated the situation, despite being charged with “instigation” by the ref.

“At that point in time, I asked, ‘this person called me a motherfucker, and I’m being an instigator?” Richardson said he asked the ref.

Kapler claimed he did not witness the entire exchange, but he backs Richardson “100 percent.”

“I know that Antoan was not out of control at all and that anything that was said to insinuate that he was is totally inappropriate, Kapler insisted. “He didn’t instigate any part of this.”

Richardson also piously insisted that he was bringing light to the issue for “other people that look like me.”

“I think it’s important we bring awareness to this,” he said. “This, unfortunately, this is what exists in our world, and I think it’s important we understand that when we do make comments and we do take actions like this, what that means to communities. I share this story not just for myself, but for other people that look like me.”

Richardson and Shildt were later seen speaking ahead of Wednesday’s game:

In other comments, Richardson admitted that he does not think that Shildt is a racist:

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.