Jeremy Guthrie apologizes for wearing ‘These O’s Ain’t Royal’ T-shirt
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — In what had to be one of the more bizarre news conferences in Major League Baseball history, Kansas City Royals pitcher Jeremy Guthrie apologized Wednesday afternoon for wearing a T-shirt to an earlier news conference that, he thought in retrospect, offended the Baltimore Orioles and supporters of theirs for varying reasons.
The shirt, worn after the Royals’ 3-0 victory Tuesday night, referenced K.C.’s opponent in the American League Championship Series, juxtaposing it with lyrics from the song “Loyal” by Chris Brown. It read: “These O’s Ain’t Royal,” a play on words for the phrase “These hoes ain’t loyal.” (Oh, that wordsmith, Chris Brown. No relation.)
The statement also could be taken to mean that the Orioles, who trail Kansas City 3-0 in the series and could be eliminated today, were somehow unworthy of being on the same field as the Royals.
Guthrie’s so-called faux pas comes after Jarrod Dyson’s comments about the Royals not believing the series would return to Baltimore, and Dyson’s assertion that the Orioles felt the same way.
It all might seem like nothing, but Guthrie seemed deeply sorry about offending friends still on the Orioles, fans of the team, and anyone else who might not have liked the anti-woman language the play on words references. Guthrie says a fan sent him the shirt — which is unlicensed by MLB — and he has since thrown it in the trash, “where it belongs.” Guthrie seems to have overreacted to an overreaction, which included word from the O’s themselves who found his choice appropriate.
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“There was no intention to call the attention to the other team, friends, and former teammates, certainly not the organization and most definitely not their fans,” Guthrie said. “Also, there’s been a comment on what it refers to, which for the most part I’m pretty unaware. I know there’s a rhyme and that’s where the shirt came from. That’s what looked to me, quote, unquote, ‘clever.’ And unfortunately, clever is not a good situation here.
“So I wanted to apologize. I’ve already apologized to a number of people, because there’s no intention on my part ever to offend. If you know me, I’m not a person that likes confrontation. I’m not a person that wants to go out there and get anybody angry with me or my squad.”
Royals manager Ned Yost, though he didn’t expressly say he was against the attention-calling shirt or Dyson’s comments, said the team talked to Guthrie and (presumably) asked him to apologize formally.
Guthrie already is receiving negative reaction to him throwing the shirt away. Auction it for charity, some say. Wear it proudly, others say. Don’t apologize and “give the shirt to me,” still others say. But anything like that would extend the story’s life, which Guthrie says and acts like he does not want.
Orioles pitcher Chris Tillman, who took questions later because he is slated to start Game 5 on Thursday if Baltimore wins Game 4, said he has received a text from Guthrie apologizing.
“I haven’t had a chance to text him back,” Tillman said. “I’ve got to focus on the start tomorrow. We might have time to worry about that later, just not right now.”
Orioles manager Buck Showalter literally laughed off the story, even going far as to fake-maniacally re-arranging the items at his table so that all of the logos faced the cameras, as if to max-out sponsorship.
“It’s so inconsequential,” Showalter said of Guthrie’s shirt, though you also get the feeling that he’d want his players to know better than to stir up a hornets nest unnecessarily over “inconsequential” topics. Read between the lines here:
“How would you respond? You respond by winning a game,” Showalter said.
“It’s not bragging if you can back it up. But they’re good. They’re a good team. That’s why — you hate to have anything like that take away from the essence of the competition and really how good they are. We don’t need any extra motivation. We already have enough.”
It’s not really Yost’s style, either, to show up the opponent. Part of that comes from this being the Royals’ first playoff team since 1985. It’s hard to act like you’ve been there before when you haven’t been there in 29 years. Conversely, Dyson being himself and Guthrie not minding his T-shirt choice is part of who they are, and we need to accept it.
Even if their manager wishes they’d use better judgment.
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David Brown is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter!
