American broadcaster apologizes after questioning Canadian fans’ ‘baseball IQ’

John Vennavally-Rao has more on the Toronto Blue Jays enjoying a late-summer high and why one American sportscaster’s comments have Jays fans fuming.

An MLB colour commentator has apologized for questioning the baseball knowledge of Canadian fans.

Former Baltimore Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts made the comments during a Toronto Blue Jays home game on Friday.

“I got to be real, real careful what I say, but sometimes we had some major questions about the baseball IQ of some Canadians here and there,” Roberts said during a live broadcast of the game on the MASN network. “I think, you know, at times it felt like maybe they enjoyed or they knew a little bit more about hockey than baseball.”

Roberts’ comments came when Toronto fans booed Orioles pitcher Shawn Dubin after a failed attempt to pick off Jays outfielder Myles Straw from first base. It’s not uncommon for home fans to boo pickoff attempts against their team’s base runners.

Although Orioles play-by-play commentator Kevin Brown called the booing “silly,” he urged Roberts to watch his words.

“You got to be really careful,” Brown told Roberts. “I’d shut that down now if I were you.”

“We’re not on the air in Canada, are we?” Roberts responded.

“There’s this thing called the internet,” Brown said.

“Oh yeah, that’s right,” Roberts replied.

Thanks to the internet, Canadian fans were soon able to hear the offending comments, which led Roberts to issue an apology as the two teams faced off for a third game in Toronto on Sunday.

“I do want to apologize to Toronto fans for something I said on the air the other day,” Roberts said.

“I definitely never ever meant to cause anyone to feel like I was disrespecting them at all. I have always enjoyed coming to Toronto, I’ve always enjoyed playing here, I told you that when we first got here. So I hope that they will accept my sincere apology.”

The Blue Jays swept the Orioles in the three-game series in Toronto with a commanding 11-2 win on Sunday.

The Blue Jays are currently ranked first in the MLB’s American League East, just four wins ahead of the New York Yankees, while the Orioles remain in last place in the division. Roberts played for the Orioles from 2001 to 2013 before finishing his final season with the Yankees in 2014.

Before making the apology, Roberts doubled down on his comments.

“It’s not the native sport of Canada,” Roberts told the Toronto Star on Saturday. “And I would say that most Canadians — and maybe that’s a generality, but I would say that there’s a decent amount of Canadians who would come to America that wouldn’t know a lot about baseball compared to a general amount of Americans that play baseball.”

Speaking to the Toronto Star, Jays infielder Ernie Clement questioned Roberts’ thinking.

“The more I play here and the more I get to know the people in Toronto, the more I gain a respect for what they know about baseball,” Clement, who grew up in nearby Rochester, N.Y., told baseball columnist Mike Wilner. “We get 40,000 a night here. I mean, they probably get 5,000 a night, so it makes sense that you’d be a little salty about that.”