Giants, Padres coaches mend fences following Tuesday night debacle
from Chelena Goldman, with YardBarker.com/www.yardbarker.com
San Francisco Giants first base coach Antoan Richardson has reportedly patched things up with San Diego Padres third base coach Mike Shildt on Wednesday following a cacophony on Tuesday night that led to Richardson being ejected.
The two coaches were seen chatting and then later addressed the media together, less than 24 hours after Richardson accused Shildt of using commentary with racist undertones.
Last night, Antoan Richardson said Padres coach Mike Shildt yelled at him with "undertones of racism."
This morning, the two spoke and shared an embrace pic.twitter.com/F2c4g2HoPz
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) April 13, 2022
According to Richardson, Tuesday’s dust-up occurred between innings when Shildt approached the Giants’ dugout looking for pitcher Alex Wood and ended the exchange by referring to Richardson as “that motherf–“. Richardson told the press after the game he found Shildt’s phrasing “disproportionately unwarranted and reeked undertones of racism when he referred to me as ‘that motherf–‘ as if to be controlled or a piece of property or enslaved.”
Ahead of Wednesday’s series finale in San Francisco, Richardson told the media he doesn’t believe Shildt is an all-around racist person, but that the weight of his comments needed to be addressed.
“In no way do I believe Shildty is a racist,” he said, via Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. “What I was trying to do is just bring awareness to how words impact certain communities, even though they might not have ill intent. It’s just helping us to be more aware of what those things mean.”
Shildt added: “I can’t walk in his shoes. I can only have empathy and love, which I do have and I’ve always had. I used inappropriate language, which is my biggest issue last night and I apologize for that and I’m sensitive to Antoan’s rightful understanding and experiences of what he feels is the oppression that takes place in this world. And unfortunately, there’s still an undercurrent of that that is real to people.”