On Wednesday, Major League Baseball finally released its findings into the Boston Red Sox’s sign-stealing scheme during the 2018 season. It was nothing near what the Houston Astros faced and the penalties showed it. Boston’s replay system operator J.T. Watkins was suspended through the 2020 postseason while the team loses their second-round selection in this year’s MLB Draft.
Having already been fired, Manager Alex Cora was also suspended for the 2020 season, but for his involvement with the Astros’ sign-stealing scheme.
On ESPN’s First Take Thursday morning, Stephen A. Smith was piping hot mad at the Red Sox getting off with a light punishment and even suggested that players would actually get suspended if Major League Baseball had more Black players.
“If this were the NBA or it had the same populace as the NBA, or the same black populace of the NFL, you trying to tell me, we’re supposed to sit here and believe that no player would’ve been punished, that no players would’ve been granted immunity?” Smith said.
“This is the problem. This is the year 2020 and we still see the disparity, the discrepancy that exists,” he continued. “If you’re a black person out there — because I am a black man and obviously I speak to a lot of black people — I’m here to tell you something right now: This is B.S. If the league was a majority black league, there’s no way in hell that players would’ve been granted immunity.”
Max Kellerman and Molly Qerim Rose elected not to respond to what he stated.
