Donaldson shouldn't make 'Jackie' remark to Anderson, says Yankees manager Boone

Yankees slugger Josh Donaldson was wrong to make a remark referencing Jackie Robinson when speaking to White Sox star Tim Anderson, New York manager Aaron Boone said Sunday.

A day after the comment called "racist" by Chicago manager Tony La Russa — an assessment that Anderson agreed with — Major League Baseball continued to investigate the incident.

Anderson, one of baseball's leading Black voices and an all-star shortstop, and Donaldson, who is white, did not speak to reporters before the start of Sunday's doubleheader.

Boone said he talked to Donaldson after Saturday's game and believed his player's explanation for why he said it — but he also said he thought Donaldson shouldn't have used the term.

"I think with what's going on between the two players and between the two teams over the last week or two, I certainly understand how that would be sensitive and understand the reaction," Boone said. "I also understand Josh has been very forthcoming with the history of it and the context of it. So I don't believe there was any malicious intent in that regard."

Donaldson said he twice called Anderson by "Jackie" — as in Robinson, who famously broke MLB's colour barrier in 1947 — during the Yankees' 7-5 win. The benches and bullpens emptied as tensions escalated.

"He just made a, you know, disrespectful comment," Anderson said after the game. "Basically, it was trying to call me Jackie Robinson. Like, `What's up, Jackie?"'

Donaldson said he was trying to defuse the situation. The benches also emptied on May 13 after Anderson shoved Donaldson following a hard tag in Chicago.

Donaldson said he's used the "Jackie" reference in the past with Anderson, who had said he viewed himself as a potential modern-day Robinson in a 2019