Pedro Martinez celebrated the Indians' win with offensive gesture
The Cleveland Indians swept the Boston Red Sox on Monday night, winning the ALDS and advancing to play the Toronto Blue Jays in the ALCS. Pedro Martinez, who is part of TBS’s pre and post-game broadcast crew, wanted to celebrate Cleveland’s victory on the air. That’s a worthy thing to do, but then things went horribly wrong.
oh no. no, no. https://t.co/L02sx17GFF pic.twitter.com/yh7zY7Dg3b
— Deadspin (@Deadspin) October 11, 2016
Pedro Martinez decided to “pay tribute” to the Indians by doing a stereotypical Native American war whoop that you probably last heard on the TV show “Bonanza.” It was offensive, and it was somehow made worse by all of the other guys at the TBS desk laughing like he did something hilarious.
Though speaking of offensive, it seems fair to point out that Indians still use the Chief Wahoo mascot. He’s not their primary mascot anymore, but the Indians haven’t retired him. Chief Wahoo is considered to be racist by many people since it depicts an old world, stereotypical Native American with red skin and huge teeth. Every season, Native Americans gather outside of the Indians home opener to protest the team’s use of the mascot.
Martinez’s chant was inappropriate, but so is Chief Wahoo. As long as that mascot still exists, people will think it’s fair game to do what Pedro did.
Martinez apologized on his Twitter account, though “apologized” might be the better way to put it.
I send my apologies if I was misunderstood when I was trying to pay tribute to the Cleveland Indians on the TBS post season show.
— Pedro Martinez (@45PedroMartinez) October 11, 2016
I was referring to my pitching years facing Cleveland. Nothing else. Again, my apologies.
— Pedro Martinez (@45PedroMartinez) October 11, 2016
That second apology tweet that Pedro sent seems to be referencing issues he had with Cleveland fans when he pitched there in Game 5 of the 1999 ALDS. While he was warming up, Martinez said that fans hurled racial slurs at him, and he even received a death threat.
It’s just a coincidence that the TBS incident happened on Columbus Day, a day that celebrates the man who didn’t discover America but just landed near it, and then decimated native populations.
A better way for Pedro to pay tribute to Cleveland? Say “Congratulations, guys!” and leave it at that.
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Liz Roscher is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at lizroscher@yahoo.com or follow her on twitter! Follow @lizroscher
