There was an odd moment at this past Saturday's baseball game between the hometown New York Yankees and the visiting Chicago White Sox. With zero precipitating physical contact, Yankees hitter Josh Donaldson and White Sox catcher Yasmani Grandal began jawboning, getting into each other's faces, and then the benches cleared and the bullpens emptied as each team engaged in the time-honored "baseball fight" tradition of standing around a lot, throwing no punches, and eventually retreating back to their positions for the rest of the game.
Usually, baseball fights begin with actions, not words—a pitcher throwing at a hitter, a base runner sliding aggressively into a fielder, a fielder tagging a runner extra hard. But this occasion, which eventually resulted in a one-game suspension and a multi-day national mini conversation about race, began with a single proper noun: Jackie.
