Baseball needs more people like Adam Jones

Listen, we know it’s tough to catch up on everything happening in the baseball world each morning. There are all kinds of stories, rumors, game coverage, and Vines of dudes getting hit in the beans every day. Trying to find all of it while on your way to work or sitting at your desk just isn’t easy. It’s OK, though. We’re going to do the heavy lifting for you each morning and find the things you need to see from within the SB Nation baseball network, as well as from elsewhere. Please hold your applause until the end, or at least until after you subscribe to the newsletter.

Adam Jones is a rarity in MLB. He’s a player who speaks his mind rather than just going in for the easy, uncontroversial “one day at a time” postgame quote. What Jones does talk about shouldn’t be controversial, of course.

But in a world where sports fans and sports teams act like the NFL’s Colin Kaepernick is a more significant distraction and problematic teammate than men who abuse their wives and girlfriends, well... let’s just say how things should work and how they do work aren’t always the same thing.

That’s why, when Jones does speak, we should all be listening. And he had an extended interview with Yahoo!‘s Jeff Passan on Tuesday, covering race, America, Curt Schilling, and racial slurs at the ballpark. It’s a fascinating read, especially if your familiarity with Jones is mostly dopes on Twitter saying he’s just an athlete and should shut up and collect his checks. (Why do you follow people like that, anyway? Curate that timeline.)

Jones discussed why he speaks up (silence helps no one), his reaction to Schilling saying Jones made up the allegations of racial slurs being used against him (“he’s never been black, and he’s never played the outfield in Boston”), and even how he didn’t mean to single out Boston when he spoke up about that incident in the first place. (“You go around the whole nation, and you hear fans get nasty”.)

It’s a thoughtful read, even more thoughtful than you’d expect even if you were already pro-Jones. If you only have time for one article today, that’s the one.

Baseball needs more players like Jones — players who understand history, who understand society, and who are willing to discuss both. The willingness and ability to speak up just doesn’t seem to be there across the league, however. But if anything, that’s all the more reason to appreciate what Jones does and who he is.