After Colin Cowherd’s gracious comments Wednesday, it appeared the ESPN Radio host actually might leave the network without stirring up more controversy.
Nope.
Cowherd, who is leaving ESPN to join FOX Sports 1 later this year, was debating the criticism surrounding new Miami Marlins manager Dan Jennings on his radio show Thursday morning, arguing Jennings’ inexperience isn’t an issue because baseball isn’t that “complex.”
What followed was an incredibly insensitive comment about Dominicans that’s sure to have repercussions.
“The game is too complex? I’ve never bought into that, ‘Baseball’s just too complex,’ ” Cowherd said. “Really? A third of the sport is from the Dominican Republic.”
Here’s the full context of Cowherd’s comments, in which he says the country isn’t known for its “world-class academic abilities.”
[tweet https://twitter.com/HerringWSJ/status/624355736026509312 align=’center’]
The implication that baseball isn’t that complex because Dominicans can understand it is a pretty insulting one, and Cowherd’s comments haven’t gone unnoticed among Dominican players, including Toronto Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista.
[tweet https://twitter.com/JoeyBats19/status/624352136822820864 align=’center’]
Neither ESPN nor Cowherd had issued a response as of Friday morning. There currently are 127 players from the Dominican Republic in the majors, the most from any country outside the United States.
