It’s a story about bad pitching, thrown popcorn, gay shirts, skyscrapers using chameleon warfare and Blue Jays controversy. Some players choose to live a quiet life in Toronto as they are only one of 30 men on the Blue Jays roster. But not for Anthony Bass who has found the fans done with him.
Pre-Blue Jays Controversy
Some players are not worth the problems that they bring to the team. In baseball, with 30-man rosters, it’s hard to become a distraction from the rest of the team. But for Anthony Bass his on-field and off-field behavior has shunned him from Toronto and the rest of the MLB.
Bass isn’t shy of controversy. While not as known as his other stunts he has always been vocal about his opinions on social issues. Before this year he had revealed he believed that the vaccines didn’t work and made a few anti-vaccine posts. While people had their opinion on it, it was a minor inconvenience and Bass wouldn’t have any issues.
2023 Blue Jays Controversy
However, this year his social media posts have landed him in hot water not once, but twice, leading to multiple instances of Blue Jays controversy. The first one came earlier this season when he took to Twitter to bash United Airlines attendants for not picking up after his daughter’s popcorn and making his pregnant wife pick it up. There was a little symphony from people on Twitter as they saw it as Bass complaining about why flight attendants were not doing extra work that his daughter created.
But after Bass deactivated his Twitter and the Blue Jays controversy died down and things seemed calm once again. People went back to complain about his on-field work as he was struggling on the mound as well. But with a vocal personality and other social media outlets, Bass would find himself in a worse situation than before.
Target has been in the news in the U.S. because they have pro-LGBT apparel. Up in Canada Target tried to come into the market but failed quickly and so these issues are a border away. But even though Bass was in a different country he expresses support for boycotting Target for the LGBT apparel.
Not only was this done right before pride month but done in one of the most progressive cities in the MLB. Bass was already on thin ice with his bad pitching and past social media post his anti-LGBT post came at a perfect storm. Now Bass was in the center of that storm and he was feeling the heat.
Bass has apologized and management has said that he was going to work out the issues but the damage has already been done. The 35-year-old’s reputation in this city will probably never be the same again and it will be tough to regain the city’s trust.
The Fans Have Turned
In Bass’ first game after the more recent Blue Jays controversy, against the Milwaukee Brewers, when he took the mound there was a rain of boos from the crowd. Blue Jays fans didn’t accept the apology and even the CN Tower lights turned rainbow right when he came on the field.
There is now a crossroads that the Blue Jays management has to face. Do you keep your biggest PR disaster, try to trade him or simply cut him from the team? They could keep him this season and not resign him when his contract is up but he will continue to be tainted in the fan’s eyes. He could be traded but even former Blue Jays pitcher Marcus Stroman has said that no one wants to work with him.
So, we have a bad pitcher who is a PR disaster and apparently no one wants to work with him. It would be almost impossible for the Blue Jays to trade him. The better option is just not to play him. He isn’t a starting pitcher and a lot of other players outshine him. It may be for the best as Bass’ time up in Toronto looks to get worse as time goes on.
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