When he pitched at home for the first time after his racist and homophobic tweets from years past surfaced during the All-Star break, Brewers pitcher Josh Hader got a standing ovation.
When he pitched for the first time outside of Milwaukee last night … not so much.
Fans in San Francisco welcomed the 24-year-old pitcher to the mound with a round of vigorous boos when he entered the game in the sixth inning to face the Giants.
Chorus of boos for Josh Hader here in San Francisco.
It's Hader's first road game since his racist and homophobic tweets surfaced. pic.twitter.com/3m0oqKgyPp
— Sam Hustis (@SamHustis) July 27, 2018
Starting as soon as he left the bullpen, the boos continued to swell when Hader’s name was announced over the stadium PA system.
“Like I said before, I can’t control what they’re going to say to me. I’ve made mistakes in my earlier years,” Hader said after game. “I’ve just got to go out and focus on what I’ve got to do and that’s to get outs and help this team win. I can’t let my mistakes distract me from my job going now. Obviously I don’t like what I said back then and I obviously regret what came out, but we live and we learn as human beings. We’re not perfect. It’s how you learn from what you do and just become a better person from it.”
When Hader — who did apologize profusely after the tweets initially surfaced — spoke about the issue previously, his teammates made it clear they had his back.
Josh Hader addressed his team today, then the local media. As he spoke, Brewers teammates showed up and literally had his back. pic.twitter.com/sLRzfLbsWJ
— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) July 20, 2018
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