In 2021, MLB told us what side of woke it was on when it pulled the All-Star Game out of Atlanta, Georgia. Commissioner Rob Manfred sided with the voter “suppression” lie when he moved the game to a state with similar or narrower windows for early voting.

Facts didn’t matter. Perception of “racist intent” was all he needed. This month, Rob Manfred took a 99- MPH heater to his melon when Georgia’s voter turnout hit records for early voting.

The Trevor Bauer matter was another Manfred’s decisions based on woke “perception” — with the intent of appeasing the left, rather that adjudicating a case based on facts. Manfred handed out the harshest domestic abuse punishment in MLB history, effectively ending Bauer’s career, when Manfred accepted the testimony of Bauer accusers and disbelieved Bauer entirely. Bauer is appealing.

Now, MLB and its dolt for a commissioner has reached peak woke when he suspended New York Yankee Josh Donaldson for ribbing the White Sox’s Tim Anderson. Donaldson called Anderson “Jackie.”

Why did Donaldson call Anderson “Jackie”? Simple. In 2019, Anderson referred to himself as “Jackie Robinson.” In an interview with Sports Illustrated in May 2019, Anderson said:

“I kind of feel like today’s Jackie Robinson,” he says. “That’s huge to say. But it’s cool, man, because he changed the game, and I feel like I’m getting to a point to where I need to change the game.”

Anderson was likening himself to Jackie Robinson for breaking a fictional ‘fun” barrier. Anderson elevated himself to iconic status. No else did that – Anderson did, all by himself.

Imagine if, in any other profession, an individual with less than four years of experienced had self-identified with an icon of their profession.

Imagine if AOC had called herself the “Abe Lincoln” of the American politics. The mocking would never stop. AOC would be called “Abe” or Abe Ocasio-Cortez for the rest of her life.

Anderson referred to himself as Jackie Robinson. Donaldson simply mocked him for it, but it’s Donaldson paying the price for Anderson’s self-aggrandizement.

After Donaldson called Anderson “Jackie,” Anderson started a fight, and both benches cleared. The White Sox sided with Anderson. Anderson called Donaldson’s joke “disrespectful” in post-game word-salad. Anderson said:

“He just made a disrespectful comment,” Anderson told reporters, per ESPN. “Basically he was trying to call me Jackie Robinson. ‘What’s up, Jackie?’ I don’t play like that. I don’t really play at all. I wasn’t really going to bother nobody today, but he made the comment and you know it was disrespectful and I don’t think it was called for. It was unnecessary.”

White Sox personnel called Donaldson a racist for using a label Anderson invented for himself. It seems only the Yankees’ manager has defended Donaldson, calling the suspension uncalled-for. Likely because it was. Anderson started the fight. Anderson is responsible, not Donaldson.

The league was swift to put out a statement:

There is no dispute over what was said on the field. Regardless of Mr. Donaldson’s intent, the comment he directed toward Mr. Anderson was disrespectful and in poor judgment, particularly when viewed in the context of their prior interactions. In addition, Mr. Donaldson’s remark was a contributing factor in a bench-clearing incident between the teams, and warrants discipline.

“Contributing factor”? Donaldson defended himself. Donaldson wasn’t responsible for clearing the benches and starting a fight, it was Anderson. But only Donaldson was suspended. And note that “intent” means nothing to the league. Anderson was offended when someone mocked him over his own self-aggrandizement.

Donaldson apologized. That, frankly, was a mistake. Anderson should have been suspended, not Donaldson; but that would require critical thinking and introspection from Anderson and the league office. It would have required Anderson to admit that he made the mistake of likening himself an icon when he had less than four years of MLB experience. Instead of accepting that elevating himself to iconic status might get mocked, Anderson and the commissioner’s office took the lazy route and suspended Donaldson.

MLB is fully invested in wokeness now. Facts mean little. Because Anderson is black, he is by default  the aggrieved party – notwithstanding that he makes millions, and that he, and he alone, labeled himself “Jackie Robinson.”

MLB is a joke.