Tim Anderson releases statement on brawl with Guardians

Tim Anderson has something more to say about his brouhaha with the Cleveland Guardians a couple of weeks ago.

The Chicago White Sox star shortstop Anderson released a statement on Thursday about his brawl with Guardians slugger Jose Ramirez earlier this month (see the video here).

“I want to apologize to the entire White Sox organization, my teammates, manager and coaches and to the fans for my part in the altercation which took place in Cleveland,” said Anderson in the statement, which he posted to his Instagram account. “This has been an incredibly disappointing season for me personally and for our team. I will not get into the things that were said to me by Cleveland players both Friday night and Saturday. But those comments do not excuse my language or conduct.

“I take full responsibility for my emotions getting the better of me,” the two-time All-Star continued. “The Cleveland players are free to say whatever they want, but I will just say that no one has more respect for the game of baseball than me. I look forward to returning after serving my suspension and finishing the season playing the best baseball I can to help my team.”

The statement from Anderson comes as he is set to begin serving his five-game suspension for his role in the altercation (which was reduced from six games after Anderson appealed it). Ramirez also got his suspension, which he already served, reduced from three games to two.

The Anderson-Ramirez fight, which occurred on Saturday, Aug. 5, was the culmination of a number of incidents that took place during the White Sox-Guardians series that weekend. Anderson had previously drawn the ire of the Cleveland players that Friday with a perceived cheap gamesmanship move. Ramirez later called out Anderson for “disrespecting the game.”

When it came to the actual brawl, Anderson got the worst of it, getting knocked down by a Ramirez right hand and quickly becoming an Internet laughingstock. Anderson, whose White Sox are a miserable 48-73 this year, did break his silence days later with some profanity-laced tweets. But now he is sounding a little bit more remorseful about the whole thing.