Radio Host Tony Bruno Calls Giants Pitcher Ramon Ramirez 'Illegal Immigrant,' Manager Bruce Bochy 'Coward'

Radio Host Tony Bruno Calls Giants Pitcher Ramon Ramirez ‘Illegal Immigrant,’ Manager Bruce Bochy ‘Coward’

by Ben Watanabe on Sun, Aug 7, 2011 at 9:07AM

Boston fans know a little about Ramon Ramirez, the right-handed relief pitcher who is now part of one of the best bullpens in baseball in San Francisco.

During his season and a half with the Red Sox, Ramirez could occasionally be relied upon to get a few key outs in the middle-to-late innings and occasionally perform as if he were throwing water on a grease fire. There's a reason why, despite overall solid career stats, he's played for four teams in his six-year major league career.

What many of us didn't know is that the Dominican born Ramirez is also an "illegal alien," according to Bay Area radio host Tony Bruno.

The reason none of us knew that is that it's not true, but one should never let the facts get in the way of a good racist tirade.

After Ramirez hit Phillies center fielder Shane Victorino with a pitch on Friday, Bruno, a lifelong Phillies fan, tweeted in anger at Giants manager Bruce Bochy and Ramirez.

"gutless #!@%*# Giants. Bochy is a coward for having his illegal alien pitcher hit a guy since might Frisco boys…," read Bruno's tweet, which was reportedly taken down seconds later but was posted on the Bay Area Sports Guy blog.

Some background for people, like Bruno, who might not be aware of how this works: Most foreign-born players, if they're not citizens, have visas that allow them to do all the normal things a baseball player has to do during the season — like go through airport security without TSA having a heart attack, for instance. An "illegal alien" has no documentation, and since it would be pretty easy for USCIS to track down Ramirez (Hint: He's at AT&T Park 81 times a year), if he were here illegally, he would have been deported a long time ago.

As expected, Bruno issued the typical non-apology.

"I did remove my post and apologize for my comments regarding illegal aliens," he wrote on Facebook. "I was angry and on the air and I stand behind my comments that Bruce Bochy is a coward, as are all managers who order pitchers to throw at guys just because their pitchers can't get a guy out. All of you people resorting to name calling are more classless and vile."

Classless and vile? Looks like somebody already has those bases covered.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

If Ramirez, right, is an undocumented immigrant, and since Victorino, left, was a Boy Scout growing up in Hawaii, could we call this "Cowboys vs. Aliens"?

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Drop a deuce."
– FOX graphic explaining what Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels had to do to have a successful start against the Giants on Saturday. We're guessing that means have a good curveball, although a high-fiber diet is always beneficial, too.