Harold Reynolds apologizes for saying Canadians can’t catch foul balls
Harold Reynolds felt the anger of Canada after saying something dumb Sunday night and it sounds like he knows he messed up. The Fox Sports/MLB Network analyst expressed his apologies Monday for saying Canadians can’t catch foul balls.
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Those comments came during Sunday night’s ALDS Game 3 between the Texas Rangers and Toronto Blue Jays. Even though the game was in Texas, Reynolds used a foul ball into the stands as a chance to talk about Canadians. He said:
“We we’re talking about foul balls in the stands up in Toronto and because there’s not a lot of people who grew up playing baseball in Canada, they’re not used to catching a lot of balls hit into the stands.”
It’s never a good idea for broadcasters to use sweeping generalizations about entire countries of people (ain’t that right, Colin Cowherd?) and Reynolds learned his lesson here. According to Shi Davidi, SportsNet’s baseball columnist, Reynolds will apologize during Monday’s Game 4. He also offered this quick apology:
Some people were genuinely upset about Reynolds’ comments, considering Canada has exported a fair amount of talent to MLB — players such as Larry Walker, Joey Votto, Justin Morneau and Ferguson Jenkins all hail from Canada.
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Others had funny quips and reactions to Reynolds, such as this perfect tweet from Walker, the 1997 NL MVP:
Fox Sports 1 analysts Dan O’Toole and Jay Onrait — both Canadian — made this funny video.
Now, that is funny. Maybe they can give Reynolds a lesson in humor.
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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
