One Racial Slur Tore a Baseball Team Apart

ESPN Daily

ESPN

Sports

4.6 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 24 May 2024

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On April 6th, 2023, a startling scene played out on a baseball field in Fort Myers, Florida. Shortly after the start of the annual rivalry game against nearby Estero High School, nearly the entire roster for Fort Myers High School, along with the coaching staff, walked off the field, leaving two teammates of color behind. According to witnesses on the scene, chaos ensued, as parents on both sides of the divide began trading insults. That incident was the latest manifestation of racial tensions that have existed in Fort Myers for decades. And the direct result of an assistant coach being dismissed for using a racial slur in a team group chat on Valentine’s Day of that year. Today, our Howard Bryant takes us inside this story, unpacks a chain of smoldering racial resentments, and provides a new understanding of what it means to be outnumbered. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	A note before we start the episode.
0:03.0	Today's story contains descriptions of hate speech and content that some listeners may find
0:08.0	upsetting.
0:09.0	Discretion is advised. I was number two and I've never been lead off
0:23.0	and I've never been lead off before in my life.
0:30.0	Coach Henson starts it.
0:32.0	After the first pitch, he goes back in the dugout,
0:34.0	packs his stuff up, and leaves.
0:36.0	And that's when all the boys start following him
0:39.0	and they start leaving.
0:42.0	They're leaving now. Everything. We're videotaping everything. I was thinking what are they doing
0:47.0	everything. I was thinking what are they doing are they out to dug out?
0:53.0	How are we going to finish the game?
0:55.8	I'm going to pray for the evil in your heart to go away.
0:59.2	You need some garlic.
1:00.3	I love you.
1:01.1	And I pray for you.
1:02.2	I am. I am.
1:03.0	I'm afraid.
1:04.0	I understand that.
1:05.0	People don't really get fired or get removed if nothing happened.
1:09.0	I'm going to pray for it.
	...

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