This is just a reminder that pretty much all fan bases have some horrific fans that take sports way too seriously.
Jay Jackson found that out the hard way. The San Francisco Giants reliever had a rough night on the mound Monday, as he surrended three runs to Arizona while recording his second blown save of the season. San Francisco would ultimately come back to win in extra innings, but it did not stop a bunch of fans from harassing the veteran right-hander on social media.
We know this, because Jackson shared some screenshots of the racist and vile messages he received.
“You’re right, I had a bad game,” said Jackson, choosing to take the high road. “No one is more pissed for making the team work harder than me. But we won. The boys picked me up.”
Former Marlins ace Dontrelle Willis jumped in the comments and said he experienced similar abuse throughout his nine-year MLB career.
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral MLB stories via Google! Follow Us
Giants manager Gabe Kapler strongly responded to racist messages directed at reliever Jay Jackson on social media after Monday night’s game.
“There’s no place for racist comments to our players on social media period. They are completely unacceptable. Disgusting,” Kapler told reporters (h/t The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly) before the Giants-Diamondbacks game at Chase Field on Tuesday.
“And not just in baseball, but in society in general. I was really taken aback. I know our entire clubhouse was. We understand that the comments that were made are not at all representative of our incredible fan base. Our fan base is wonderful and especially supportive.
“And I think what we saw was once Jay shared what happened, the Giants fans came out in bunches in support of Jay with really loving, caring comments, and I thought that was phenomenal, and we need to talk about this.
“It needs to be something that isn’t like, here and gone. It should be discussed because it was really, really disturbing for all of us and it just can’t happen.”
