Why Buster Posey and the Giants once again failed the moment
Yahoo Sports senior MLB analysts Jordan Shusterman and Jake Mintz discuss the bizarre press conference San Francisco Giants general manager Buster Posey held that ended without him addressing any questions about the Pride Night communications from the team. Hear the full conversation on the "Baseball Bar-B-Cast" podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
"i'd like to recognize that the organization has shared its response to Pride Night, and I understand there's strong feelings on the topic.
There's differing perspectives.
Out of respect to everyone involved, it's not something that I'm going to revisit."
He wanted to focus only on baseball questions.
He was asked a question about Rafael Devers' recent insubordination, and then was understandably asked about Pride Night, to which he responded that he wanted to focus on baseball.
Quote, "I'm not I mentioned I'm not gonna revisit it.
If you wanna ask baseball questions, I'll answer baseball questions."
He, then received a number of, additional probes about Pride Night.
After each one, he said, "I wanna focus on baseball.
You can ask me baseball questions."
It got very uncomfortable, very awkward.
A member of the Giants' PR staff had to step in and effectively threaten to end the press conference if baseball questions, were not pivoted to.
The entire thing was a, a fiasco, an embarrassment, and one that frankly placated absolutely no one.
It was purposeless, it was useless, and at most, it was incredibly bizarre for a player, a person, an individual that made his name, his legend, his millions in San Francisco.
This is not an idiot or an interloper.
This is someone that is intimately familiar with the Bay Area and certainly understands San Francisco's place as one of the most, if not the most, vibrant and crucial and essential queer city in the country.
And for him to approach this situation with such a dismissive attitude was mind-blowing and just Like, what did he think was gonna happen?
Like, how did he think this was gonna play out?
This, the statement from the Giants is at least striking a tone of, trying to reach out and, much more of a I see, we see this being a problematic.
Now, it's not, I'm not saying the statement is perfect.
But I do think that there's parts of the statement compared to what Posey prepared is pretty- Sure stark and difference, and different.
The Giants putting out saying, "The Giants are proud to support Pride Night, LGBTQ+ community.
Baseball should be a place where everyone feels welcome, respected, and valued.
We also respect that individuals may make personal choices about participating in team activations.
We understand that the choices by individual players has caused pain and anger to many in the LGBTQ+ community, and we are sorry for that.
These, those choices do not change our organization's commitment to inclusion, belonging, and creating a welcoming environment for all.
We remain grateful to our fans, partners, employees, players, and coaches who help make Pride Night a meaningful celebration."
Now, I know that that is still- Mm-hmm to a lot of people a, a kind of, uh- There's a word salad there.
There's a word salad there- Yeah but acknowledging- Yes that the actions were hurtful- Mm-hmm and painful for people that- Yep love to their core this organization- Yep this institution.
That is a good thing, right?
Yep.
However- Yep what happened yesterday did not- Yes reflect that sentiment
