A fan at Wrigley Field displayed a profane political message. Is it anything goes in 2024?
Fans were seen filing out of Wrigley Field on Sunday afternoon after singing “Go, Cubs, Go” following the team’s 2-1, 10-inning win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
It was a happy scene for the Marquee Sports Network audience, until you looked at the bottom corner of the TV screen and noticed a middle-aged man exiting the ballpark wearing a black T-shirt that read, “F−−− Joe Biden.”
It was too quick for Marquee to cut away and the postgame show was about to begin anyway, so … no harm, no foul?
But seeing the fan wearing an obscene message aimed at the president of the United States made me wonder whether the team had relaxed its policy on inappropriate attire inside the ballpark.
Would it also be OK to wear “F−−− Trump” or even “F−−− Ricketts”?
Or anyone else, for that matter?
Has the public discourse changed so much that anything goes in 2024?
These are sensitive times, of course, no matter whose side you are on.
Two incidents Sunday brought politics into the limelight at baseball stadiums, though it was players, not fans, who were the alleged instigators.
The St. Louis Cardinals were accused on social media of inventing an homage to presidential candidate Donald Trump when Alec Burleson homered and cupped his right ear while raising his left fist as he rounded third base. Cardinals players in the dugout responded in kind.
The immediate reaction was that it was a nod to Trump’s response after the assassination attempt on July 13 in Pennsylvania. But Cardinals veteran Matt Carpenter said after the game it was “definitely not a political statement.” Carpenter said Burleson was a rapper in college, so the ear cupping was actually him holding invisible headphones like a DJ.
Tampa Bay Rays infielder Taylor Walls’ intentions seemed more obvious Sunday when he doubled and pumped his fist while saying, “Fight, fight,” just as Trump immediately yelled after he got back on his feet that day in Pennsylvania.
There’s nothing wrong with either of those celebrations or with players inventing different ways to celebrate after they get on base. But you have to wonder why players would come up with a blatant political message without having the courage to publicly admit it afterward. And anyone in the dugout supporting the gesture with one of their own should have the guts to come out and admit it as well.