New York Mets pitching coach Dan Warthen apologized on Wednesday for using a racial slur to describe Daisuke Matsuzaka’s translator in the locker room.
“I apologize for the thoughtless remarks I made yesterday in the clubhouse,” Warthen said in a statement released by the Mets. “They were a poor attempt at humor but were wrong and inappropriate in any setting. I am very sorry.”
The statement comes after Wall Street Journal reporter Stu Woo overheard Warthen’s conversation with Japanese-American interpreter Jeff Cutler on Monday.
“I’m sorry I called you a ‘Chinaman’ yesterday,” Warthen said to Cutler, according to Woo. “I didn’t mean to insinuate — I know you’re not Chinese. I thought it was a pretty good joke, though.”
Cutler said he was not offended by Warthen’s joke, but Woo, who is Chinese-American, said he was “startled” by Warthen’s remarks.
“I couldn’t remember the last time I heard the term ‘Chinaman,’ a derogatory word originally given by White Americans to Chinese immigrants in the 19th century,” Woo wrote.
Mets general manager Sandy Alderson also issued a public apology on behalf of the entire organization, but Mets pitcher Jon Niese fired back at the media’s reaction to Warthen’s locker-room slur.
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Warthen, who has served as a pitching coach for the Mets since 2008, traveled to Viera on Thursday for the team’s game against the Washington Nationals.
“I made a mistake,” Warthen said. “I live up to it. It will not happen again.”
Photo via Twitter/@CoreyHersch
