Let’s start here: Josh Donaldson should not have said what he said to Tim Anderson Saturday — twice — when, citing an old self-reference Anderson himself had made, he referred to him colloquially as Jackie Robinson. 

It is a classic case of a loudmouth needler with no ability to edit his tongue or read a room. If Donaldson and Anderson had a friendly history together, sure. If they made a habit of calling each other “Jackie” and “Joshy Ballgame,” absolutely. But they do not have that history. This wasn’t a comment made out of affection. It was to push a button. 

We can agree on that much, yes? 

That leads to three other far less comfortable questions in the wake of MLB’s decision to suspend Donaldson for one game and issue a fine as a result of the Saturday incident. Donaldson, placed on the COVID-19 IL before Monday’s game against the Orioles, has chosen to appeal which is his right. 

Question 1: Was it a racial comment? 

Most of the White Sox asked about the incident — including Anderson himself — chose a different offense: disrespectful. The notable exception was manager Tony La Russa, who ignited the uglier undertones of this issue when he greeted reporters after the White Sox lost 7-5 to the Yankees and, when asked about the confrontations, said this: 

“He made a racist comment. That’s all I’m going to say.” 

It was a few minutes into Anderson’s explanation of what happened and why he was upset — again, his charge was “disrespect,” time and again — that someone mentioned La Russa’s comment. And asked Anderson if he thought it was a racially motivated comment. 

“It’s along the same line,” Anderson said. 

So, question 2: If La Russa had simply used the terms everyone else in his clubhouse used to describe what Donaldson said — besides “disrespectful,” there was “delusional,” and there was “uncalled for” and there was “unacceptable” — would Donaldson have gotten suspended on Monday? 

This certainly isn’t Donaldson’s first rodeo when it comes to getting under the skin of opponents. Just last year when he was in Minnesota, Donaldson called out the Yankees’ Gerrit Cole, citing his declining spin rate after the new foreign-substance rules went into effect. He also talked some post-home-run trash to the White Sox’s Lucas Giolito after the rule took effect. Giolito called Donaldson a “pest” that day. 

Pest works. Jerk works, if you prefer. 

But would you suspend someone for being a pest, a jerk, or any other manner of annoyance? And — absent anyone other than a well-intentioned manager citing “racism” at the root of the problem — can anyone say for sure what exactly was lurking in Donaldson’s heart? 

And one last thing, question 3: 

There was a busy slate of baseball games Monday. Each of those games was almost certain to last in excess of three hours. That’s a lot of time for a lot of verbal jousting. Bench-jockeying has been a part of baseball since before it was called “base ball.” In today’s climate, we can assume the kind of vitriol that old-time players — for obvious reasons, let’s cite Jackie Robinson and Hank Greenberg — had to endure has vanished, or else we would certainly know about it. 

But over the course of those three hours in 12 different cities, whether it’s aimed at a wild pitcher or a slumping hitter or an umpire with an extra-wide (or extra-stingy) strike zone, how many times will major league baseball players use, at the least, two old standby expletives that still survive to modern times, one that would absolutely be considered offensive to every woman on the planet, one that is a clear jab at homosexuals? 

Odds are good that nothing will come of those, of course, because those words are still as much a part of the daily baseball lexicon as “infield fly rule” and “Baltimore chop.” 

Donaldson has earned much of what he’s gotten with this: scorn from opponents, a rebuke from his manager, inevitably uncomfortable conversations with at least a few of his teammates. But the suspension means he will wear a scarlet “R” the rest of his life. Now, if that was his intent? Then it should be seared onto his chest. 

Is he a racist? I can’t possibly know that. Only one man does.