Bosio's quick firing sent a message that the Tigers do not tolerate insensitive languageGETTY IMAGES
The Tigers yesterday fired pitching coach Chris Bosio for "insensitive comments made to a team employee that violated team policy," according to Orion Sang of the DETROIT FREE PRESS. It was a "bombshell dropped" into the Tigers' clubhouse and left several players "trying to make sense of what happened." Tigers P Alex Wilson: "Very few and far between you see a coach dismissed in the middle of the season, and for an incident like (the one that) occurred, it is unfortunate." Tigers Exec VP/Baseball Operations & GM Al Avila said that he and manager Ron Gardenhire "met with Bosio" after Tuesday's game against the A's. The team was "notified in a meeting" yesterday about the move. Tigers 1B John Hicks: "I don't think any of us really know what happened. But we're surprised about it" (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 6/28). In Michigan, Evan Woodbery noted Avila "would not elaborate on the nature of Bosio's comments or to whom they were directed." However, he said that the comments "violated both Tigers company policy and the terms of Bosio's employment contract." Avila: "For me and our organization we felt that this was a much-needed move. We have zero tolerance as far as this is concerned, on the field or off the field." He added that the "investigation into the comments was swift." Avila: "It was brought to my attention [Tuesday]. We investigated. John Westhoff, our club counsel, did a lot of the legwork. I talked to the parties involved. I decided that we needed to act quickly based on the information" (MLIVE.com, 6/27).
TAKING A STAND: In Detroit, Lynn Henning writes Bosio's firing "turned a difficult season for which a team was bracing into something more unsettling." Gardenhire "loved him" and Tigers pitchers "positively adored" Bosio. Whatever he said "had to have been clearly out of bounds." The Tigers "apparently decided there wasn't a lot of gray area here and acted, quickly from what can be deduced, in taking a stance that offered no second chances." This is "brutal stuff, these dismissals spawned by bad words, or bad acts, that can be an affront to gender, or ethnicity, or simple human dignity" (DETROIT NEWS, 6/28). Also in Detroit, Jeff Seidel in a front-page piece writes Avila's swift action on the matter sent a "strong message: The Tigers have no tolerance for insensitive language." In the current climate, there is "no such thing as locker-room talk." In making such a "bold move, the Tigers are saying who they are." A source said that Tigers Chair & CEO Chris Ilitch was "fully behind the swift firing." Seidel: "That says something strong about Ilitch, too, an indication of the culture he values" (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 6/28). The FREE PRESS' Shawn Windsor writes the Tigers "don't have to tolerate demeaning language." They can "set their own code of conduct ... and enforce it." They can "fire an otherwise successful employee for acting like a jerk" (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 6/28).
