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You may be inclined to give the Toronto Blue Jays credit for releasing pitcher Anthony Bass, who recently shared a hateful anti-LGBTQ+ Instagram post, and then later denied reality, saying it actually wasn’t hateful. The Blue Jays were right to cut ties but he made these comments days ago. The team’s action was slow and perhaps even enabling.
That’s because the Blue Jays were going to proceed with having Bass catch the ceremonial first pitch before Friday’s first game of the team’s Pride Weekend activities. Why you would have someone who shared an anti-LGBTQ+ post take part in a night to honor that community in the first place?
It’s unclear why the team picked now to release him but it likely has something to do with him struggling with a 4.95 ERA. He’s also been booed at several home games since he made a public apology on May 30.
“I stand by my personal beliefs,” Bass said Thursday, “and everyone is entitled to their personal beliefs, right? Also, I mean no harm towards any groups of people.”
Before all of you Constitutional scholars talk about his fReeDum oF sPeCh he does have the right to say what he wants, but the Blue Jays are a private entity, and if they desire, they can decide not to have people like Bass as part of their franchise. Even if their reasons for releasing him are dubious, or if they did it too late.
This moment requires us to take a step back and look at not just baseball, but also ourselves. Most of baseball, for several years now, has sincerely tried to have thoughtful and empathetic Pride Month celebrations. You can go down the list of teams and it’s been wonderful to see. But there were several troubling things we saw over the past week that shows how far some players and teams in baseball have to go. In fact, some of the actions of teams and players were the opposite of thoughtful. They were pathetic.
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What’s clear is that parts of baseball still struggle with showing basic respect for the LGBTQ+ community. This isn’t a total surprise since much of American society is having the same problem. Still, the goal is so easy. Show basic respect for your fellow human beings. Be kind. Don’t be a jerk. Don’t be a dope.
Bass failed those tests. He wasn’t alone, either.
What happened with Bass and other situations was so disturbing that baseball may want to take a hard look at what it can do to further make sure its players and teams get it, because clearly some do not. There are apparently still pockets of resistance to seeing members of the LGBTQ+ community as the people that they are.
Bass shared a post that called the sale of LGBTQ+ merchandise “evil” and “demonic.”
The ugliness didn’t stop with Bass. The Boston Red Sox recently designated right-handed pitcher Matt Dermody for assignment. He posted a homophobic tweet in 2021 and while he deleted it, well, the Internet is pseudo-forever. The Red Sox said they were unaware of the tweet when they signed him as a free agent in January. But the team said once learning of it, he was required to attend anti-discrimination training.
“I do regret the tweet in the sense that it came out hurtful and it hurt a lot of people,” Dermody said. “That’s the last thing I want to do is hurt people. A lot of people think that I’m against a certain group of people or whatnot. But I’m for everybody making it to heaven.”
Well, okay then.
Then there was the Dodgers’ disinviting the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence before re-inviting them after massive outrage from the LGBTQ+ community.
There are other examples of baseball struggling with this issue and, again, it’s not a shocker, because our entire society is. The right-wing has been disgraceful in its attack on the trans community in particular so it’s no surprise that ugliness can seep into baseball.
What baseball has to do, in the future, is make sure its teams show zero tolerance for this type of discrimination. If Bass had posted the equivalent of an anti-Black remark on Jackie Robinson Day or during Black History Month, would the Blue Jays have waited as long to release him? I don’t know the answer but I have my suspicions.
Society needs to do better. Not just baseball. And if baseball does it right, the sport can help lead the way.
