MINNEAPOLIS — White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson received a one-game suspension and an undisclosed fine for his inappropriate actions towards fans during the first game of a doubleheader on Wednesday against the Guardians at Progressive Field, Major League Baseball announced.
The action seemingly in question came before the Guardians hit in the eighth, when Anderson made an obscene gesture toward someone in the crowd and was caught on camera after going through his infield warmup. Anderson’s suspension was scheduled to be served in Friday’s series opening 2-1 loss against the Twins, during which he went 0-for-4, but Anderson elected to appeal. The discipline will be held in abeyance until the process is complete, per MLB.
Following the White Sox fifth straight setback, Anderson confirmed the appeal and addressed the suspension. He did so with the maturity and understanding of one of the faces of the baseball, but also as a 28-year old player caught up in the moment, taking a few moments to gather his thoughts before speaking.
“Yeah, I [have to] apologize for my actions,” Anderson said. “There are a lot of people who really look up to me. I take full accountability of what I did. But it’s something that I have to learn from and grow from.
“I understand that the game can be tough sometimes. You can get frustrated sometimes and people can say certain things that get you out of character, but, for the most part, there are a lot of kids out there watching. I have to be [the] bigger person in that situation and just suck it up [of] whatever is being said. For the most part, it’s something I have to grow from. It’s something I already learned from — kind of let a lot of people down. But, at the end of the day, life keeps going on. Now, I get to continue to try to be great.”
Anderson did not elaborate on what was said to him prior to the gesture.
“Sometimes you are going to react different. That was one of those moments where I reacted different,” Anderson explained. “But, like I said, I learned from it. I’m going to keep going and grow from it. Just continue to be me and lock it back in and keep learning.”
“We’ll talk to him about it,” said manager Tony La Russa, who didn’t see the action in question and found out about the suspension from general manager Rick Hahn. “Ask him what happened, why it happened. Doesn’t change anything that we believe about him. Nothing.”
Anderson missed the first two games or the 2022 season in Detroit when a three-game suspension handed down in the last week of the ’21 regular season was reduced to two games and a $10,000 fine. That suspension stemmed from Anderson pushing umpire Tim Timmons during a benches-and-bullpen clearing incident in Detroit, after José Abreu was hit by a pitch and then slid hard into second. Though, Anderson didn’t realize he was pushing an umpire in the middle of the scrum.
That Cleveland series was an unusually tough one for Anderson, who committed three errors in the top half of the doubleheader and two in Thursday’s loss after not making an error over his first seven game. He was charged with a sixth error in his past three games during Minnesota’s two-run eighth inning on Friday. His errant throw was the first back to back errors that brought in the game-tying and go-ahead runs for Minnesota.
But much like the suspension, Anderson views this on-field moment as another learning experience.
“I just really am trying to grow from it,” Anderson said. “You go through tough things. It just happens to be defense.
“I’m in a tough stretch right now. But nothing is going to stop. I have to keep working and I have to continue to get better. I keep letting these guys down, but I’m going to keep working and get to where I need to be. That’s really all.”