Cleveland Indians first baseman Yu Chang, who is Taiwanese, posted some of the anti-Asian tweets on his Twitter account while asking for tolerance following a spate of online hate messages directed at players
Wednesday 14 April 2021 08:25, UK
An ugly trend of online abusive hate has been targeting players in the MLB with Cleveland Indians first baseman Yu Chang the latest player to receive racist tweets.
Chang revealed he received racist social media messages following his throwing error in his team's 4-3 loss to the Chicago White Sox.
"Exercise your freedom of speech in a right way, I accept all comments, positive or negative but DEFINITELY NOT RACIST ONES. Thank you all and love you all. #StopAsianHate," Chang posted on his Twitter account.
Chang's attempt to secure a force at second base was unsuccessful after his throw hit Chicago's Yasmani Grandal in the helmet in the ninth inning. The ball caromed toward the left side of the infield, allowing Nick Madrigal to score the winning run on the play.
Chang, 25, is currently in his third season with the Indians. He was playing at first base at the time of the error, although he primarily has played at either shortstop or third base during his time with the club.
Indians manager Terry Francona called racist social media messages sent to Chang stupid and ignorant adding they have no place in baseball or anywhere.
"First, I wanted to make sure he was OK and that he understands the lunacy or the idiocy that was said is not shared by hopefully very many people, certainly not in the Indians organisation," Francona said.
"Truth be told, man, it's really simple: errors are part of the game.
"But ignorance and racism, they shouldn't be anywhere. Those comments that have nothing to do with baseball, it's just an excuse for somebody to be stupid and ignorant. That's really what it is."
The racist social media postings directed toward Chang are part of an ugly trend of abusive behaviour.
Former NBA player Jeremy Lin has been outspoken about the racist abuse while sports organisations have offered support to quell incidents.
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