Matt Shepard, the play-by-play announcer on the telecast, asked Morris what strategy should be used for pitchers facing Ohtani, a pitching and hitting superstar from Japan who leads MLB with 39 home runs, as he came to bat in the sixth inning against the Los Angeles Angels.
“Be very, very careful,” Morris replied, using pronunciations that many found offensive. In the ninth inning, Morris said on the telecast that he had not intended any offense.
“Well folks, Shohei Ohtani is coming to the plate and it’s been brought to my attention, and I sincerely apologize if I offended anybody, especially anybody in the Asian community for what I said about pitching and being careful to Shohei Ohtani,” Morris said. “I did not intend for any offensive thing and I apologize if I did. I certainly respect and have the utmost respect for this guy and don’t blame a pitcher for walking him.”
Bally Sports Detroit said in a statement Wednesday that it was “extremely disappointed” with Morris’ remarks and that the former major league pitcher will undergo bias training “to educate him on the impact of his comments and how he can be a positive influence in a diverse community.”
“We have a zero-tolerance policy for bias or discrimination and deeply apologize for his insensitive remark,” the network said.
The Tigers said in a statement that they were “deeply disappointed” with Morris’ comments.
“We fully support Bally Sports Detroit’s decision and their on-going commitment to ensure that all personnel are held to the highest standards of personal conduct,” the team said.
After Wednesday’s win over the Tigers, Ohtani said he heard the remarks but wasn’t offended.
“I did see the footage and I heard it on the video. Personally, I’m not offended, I didn’t take anything personally,” he said. “I have no say to what the Tigers wanted to do or what they did with him. He’s a Hall of Famer. He has a big influence in the baseball world, so it’s kind of a tough spot.”
“The fact that this type of lazy racism keeps popping up around Shohei Ohtani speaks to so much of the media being apathetic and lacking any empathy towards the AAPI [Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders] experience,” ESPN’s Joon Lee, tweeted. “It’s impossible for Jack Morris to play something like this off as ‘sorry if you were offended’ when there’s not any purpose in doing this accent other than to make a caricature of AAPI people.”
ESPN’s Pablo Torre tweeted, “Tell me you have zero Asian friends without telling me you have zero Asian friends” as he shared the clip of Morris’s comment and apology.
Morris, a TV analyst since 2013, has been covering the Tigers since 2015. Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Modern Era Committee in 2018, he won 254 games in his 18-year major league career.
Some viewers called for Morris to be fired. “There are 30 MLB teams, which means fewer than 100 TV color commentary positions,” Twitter user Daniel R. Epstein wrote. “Just find 100 intelligent baseball minds who won’t make racist remarks. Jack Morris isn’t special and doesn’t need a second chance.”
In 1990, his final season with the Tigers, he apologized for a sexist remark to Jennifer Frey, then a reporting intern for the Detroit Free Press, as she approached him for an interview after a game.
