NESN Red Sox analyst Jerry Remy yesterday "received heavy criticism" after he said that Yankees P Masahiro Tanaka's translator "should not be allowed to visit the mound with pitching coach Larry Rothschild," according to Christopher Smith of the Springfield REPUBLICAN. Remy on the Red Sox-Yankees broadcast said, "I don't think that should be legal." Play-by-play man Dave O'Brien then asked Remy, "What is it you don't like about that?" Remy answered, "Umm, learn baseball language. I mean, it's pretty simple. Break it down pretty easy between pitching coach and pitcher after a long period of time. I would say that probably they are concerned about nuance being lost in some of these conversations" (Springfield REPUBLICAN, 6/7). As he left the broadcast booth after the game, Remy said that he had "nothing more to say on the subject." The AP's Ben Walker noted MLB in '13 "adopted a rule that permitted interpreters to join mound conferences" (AP, 6/6). USA TODAY's Andrew Joseph noted Remy essentially is saying that someone who "can’t speak English fluently isn’t deserving of the ability to communicate with his teammates during a game." There is "no reason to even state that, and it was clear that his colleague, O’Brien, was taken aback by that suggestion." O'Brien gave Remy a "chance to walk back on the remarks, but instead, Remy doubled down" (USATODAY.com, 6/6).
TWITTER REAX: Sporting News' Sung Min Kim tweeted, "Has Jerry Remy ever been a non-English speaker in U.S.? That's my question. I know I have and it sucks." FanRag Sports' Nathan Bernhardt: "Remy criticizing any other person's command of intelligible English is frankly appalling." Bleacher Report's Stephen Meyer: "Mike Schmidt: Man, no one is as racist/dumb as me...I'll be in the news for weeks Jerry Remy: Hold my beer." Sports Funhouse: "Getting a lot of 'Jerry Remy is a racist' replies. I've listened to him forever. He's not a racist. It was a very unfortunate comment."
