Jarren Duran’s word choice offers latest evidence that MLB still has a long way to go

What the fan said was relatively harmless.

On Sunday afternoon, a frustrated individual at Fenway Park hollered in the direction of Red Sox center fielder Jarren Duran, who was in the middle of an at-bat against the Houston Astros.

“Tennis racket. Tennis racket. You need a tennis racket.”

Nothing particularly pointed or offensive. Nothing about the player’s family. Just a typical, run-of-the-mill chirp.

Duran’s reaction was disproportionately volatile. He turned back toward the stands as he dug into the box, looked toward the fan in question and hurled an anti-gay slur in the heckler’s direction.

Because Duran was standing at home plate, within earshot of a multitude of microphones, his homophobic language was picked up on the Red Sox broadcast. Before the game had even ended, Duran’s comment was making the rounds on social media.

The team issued a pair of statements following the game, one on Duran’s behalf and one for the organization.

On Monday, the team announced that it had suspended its All-Star center fielder for two games without pay. The money that Duran would have been paid — around $8,500 — will be donated to PFLAG, an organization dedicated to LGBTQ+ advocacy.

The punishment will kick in immediately, making Duran, who was on track to appear in all 162 games this season, unavailable Monday and Tuesday against the Texas Rangers. It’s an obvious blow to Boston’s lineup; the team has lost four in a row and sits three games out of a playoff spot.

Just a week ago, the MLB world mourned the death of Billy Bean, the second openly gay retired player in league history. Bean, who died at 60 from leukemia, retired from playing in 1995 and later worked for the league for 10 years, beginning in 2014 as an Ambassador of Inclusion and then becoming the league’s Senior Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and a Special Assistant to the commissioner. His impact behind the scenes was profound. Bean would travel the country to speak with players, building networks and relationships along the way. By telling his own story as a once-closeted gay man in baseball, he hoped to educate the next generation about how to create a more accepting atmosphere around the game he loved.

This incident with Duran is an unfortunate reminder that the cause to which Bean dedicated the last decade of his life remains woefully unfinished. The word Duran used, quite simply, is unacceptable. He crossed a line and must now face the consequences.

This is also not the first time in recent memory that a big leaguer has been suspended for using a homophobic slur. There is indeed precedent here. Matt Joyce was given a two-gamer in 2017, as was Kevin Pillar in 2021.

That the slur Duran dispatched is still extremely commonplace within MLB clubhouses and beyond doesn’t change the dynamic. Not in the slightest. It only serves to showcase how deeply this problem is rooted. To wit, Duran was so comfortable “in the heat of the moment” that he used the word at home plate during a season in which the Red Sox are being constantly recorded by a Netflix crew.

And the horde of individuals on the internet attempting to classify this whole thing as a “non-issue” is utterly irrelevant. It’s simply a non-issue to them. Just because a hurtful word was once commonplace on the middle school playground doesn’t make it OK to use in 2024. It didn’t even make it OK in 1984. Society progresses, moves forward, develops into a more thoughtful and loving version of itself — or at least it should. Anything less is, at best, unnecessarily close-minded and, at worst, straight-up bullying.

Practically, though: You cannot say what Duran said, as a high-profile professional athlete, as a public figure, and not expect there to be consequences. And that’s a good thing.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

Duran, hopefully, has learned his lesson. He was on pace to play in all 162 games, something he admitted multiple times was a goal of his. That’s out the window now. His apology Monday — in which he claimed to have never used the word before, something that seems highly unlikely given how easily it jumped out of his mouth — doesn’t move the needle. Only time and a genuine desire to improve can do that.

One last point: Duran is not a victim here, no matter how many keyboard warriors might try to lionize him. By suspending him, the Red Sox incidentally turned Duran into a cause célèbre within the larger contemporary culture war. That a significant portion of people saw that video of the slur and their immediate reaction was to defend Duran and champion him as some crusader against the encroaching wave of modern wokeness? That’s just a flat-out bummer.

Moving through baseball, through life, with care and acceptance for others is not a political question.

In fact, it shouldn’t even be a question at all.