UPDATE: Major League Baseball has issued a statement on behalf of Cowherd's comments:
"Major League Baseball condemns the remarks made by Colin Cowherd, which were inappropriate, offensive and completely inconsistent with the values of our game. Mr. Cowherd owes our players of Dominican origin, and Dominican people generally, an apology."
UPDATE: Cowherd cleared the air regarding his comments from yesterday on "The Herd" today. Check out what he said here.
Colin Cowherd is leaving ESPN to take a job with FOX. In what could be his final days with the Worldwide Leader in Sports, the longtime radio host did not make a good lasting impression - for himself or the network.
Cowherd was talking about baseball on his radio show on Thursday and specifically alluded to the Miami Marlins hiring general manager Dan Jennings as their manager. He couldn't understand why people were "freaking out" about the move because "it's baseball." What followed wasn't exactly endearing.
Here's the full transcription of his comments provided by NBC Sports' HardballTalk:
"It's too complex? I've never bought into that 'baseball is too complex.' Really? A third of the sport is from the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic has not been known in my lifetime as having world-class academic abilities. A lot of those kids come from rough backgrounds and have not had opportunities academically that other kids from other countries have. Baseball is like any sport. It's mostly instincts. A sportswriter who covers baseball could go up to Tony La Russa and make an argument and Tony would listen and it would seem reasonable. There's not a single NFL writer in the country who could diagram a play for Bill Belichick. You know, we get caught up in this whole 'thinking-man's game.' Is it in the same family? Most people could do it. It's not being a concert pianist. It's in the same family."
Considering baseball's large presence of Dominicans, the MLB Players Association is reportedly upset with Cowherd's comments and considering withholding cooperation with ESPN and FOX.
"The players association has not issued a formal statement, but a person close to the union assailed Cowherd's professionalism and termed the comments ignorant and offensive," Jorge L. Ortiz of USA Today Sports writes.
"The person, who spoke to USA TODAY Sports on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the topic, also said the lack of response from ESPN - and Cowherd's future employer, Fox, has upset its members just as much as the comments, and they will consider withholding cooperation with the networks. ESPN and Fox are national rightsholders to major league games, and Fox carries its jewel events, the All-Star Game and World Series."
Whether these potential actions are considered drastic or not is open to interpretation, but Cowherd's words are certainly not anything that's going to go under the radar. Cowherd spoke of leaving ESPN earlier in the week and had some telling comments in the days leading up to his controversial comments.
"Today is 50 days until the NFL season. I get excited. I'm not gonna lie. I like football ... I'm not a baseball guy. I like talking baseball. I used to be a baseball play-by-play guy, but I like football."
Well, considering he'll be taking a job at FOX Sports he might have to do some on-field baseball reporting because of the MLB's relationship with the network. Could his most recent comments affect his role with his new employer?
