Pedro Martinez The Latest To Take On Colin Cowherd For His Comments
Add Pedro Martinez’s name to the list of Colin Cowherd’s detractors. The Hall of Fame pitcher is the latest of prominent sports figures to take the now-former ESPN personality to task for comments made about Dominican Republic-based baseball players. Colin Cowherd’s remarks on his ESPN show The Herd. Cowherd was comparing players born out of the Dominican Republic to other Latin countries.
His comments courtesy of an ESPN report drew the ire of company execs and the MLB, as well as players past and present, even after Colin Cowherd attempted to explain himself.
“You don’t think a general manager can manage? Like it’s impossible? The game is too complex? I’ve never bought into that, ‘Baseball’s just too complex.’ Really? A third of the sport is from the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic has not been known in my lifetime as having world-class academic abilities. A lot of those kids come from rough backgrounds and have not had opportunities academically that other kids from other countries have.”
Cowherd did later apologize for his remarks.
ESPN host Colin Cowherd pulled off the air after comments about Dominicans: http://t.co/YDzwXY9LMc pic.twitter.com/8OUqzi7XUf
— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) July 25, 2015
“I understand that when you mention a specific country, they get offended. I get it. I do. And for that, I feel bad. I do. But I have four reports in front of me… where there are discussions of major deficiencies in the education sector at all levels… It wasn’t a shot at them. It was data. Five, seven years ago I talked about the same subject. Was I clunky? Perhaps. Did people not like my tone? I get it. Sometimes my tone stinks.”
Unfortunately, the damage was already done. He has since been fired by ESPN just before his current agreement to join the Fox Sports Network takes place. And now that may also be in jeopardy.
Current Toronto Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista was ready to rip Colin Cowherd “a new one.” MLB legend Tony Perez took Cowherd to task as well. Now it was another baseball legend’s turn to drop him.
Pedro Martinez was asked about Cowherd’s remarks during an interview at Cooperstown, New York. Whether or not Martinez was being facetious remains to be seen, but according to what he told the New York Daily News, he has never heard of Colin Cowherd.
“That person, I don’t even know, I never heard of him. I don’t know him. I don’t want to know him. I want to know the people that represent something, that means something to us. The people who understand how we can get better.”
Pedro Martinez goes on to explain what Colin Cowherd was probably trying to say.
“Yes we are a Third World Country. Yes we don’t have the resources to become more educated. But you know what, every once in a while you’re going to get one like me, who’s not afraid to tell you how educated or uneducated I am, how proud I am of becoming who I am.”
Pedro Martinez, who released an autobiography in May, also told reporters, “[H]e (Colin Cowherd) needs to get to my level to answer him. I’m in the Hall of Fame.”
Colin Cowherd’s remarks are causing him to lose his star rating at an alarming rate. Several of MLB’s biggest names, including Albert Pujols, Johnny Cueto, Robinson Cano, and David Ortiz, hail from the Dominican Republic. He will find a difficult time trying to secure an interview with a star player in the near future. With Pedro Martinez adding his name to the party of detractors, Colin Cowherds remarks have done more damage than he ever would have realized.
[Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images Sport]
