Oakland Athletics bench coach Ryan Christenson may not get three strikes before he’s out of baseball.
To celebrate the team’s 6-4 win over the Texas Rangers on Thursday, Christenson stood by the dugout with arm raised straight in what looked like a Nazi salute to greet closer Liam Hendriks after he recorded the game’s final out and notched a save.
Hendriks clearly recognized what the gesture looked like and did not return Christenson’s greeting while seeming to tell him to change what he was doing with his arm. Christenson indicated that he understood, then turned towards the stands and raised his arm up straight again.
We take this time to introduce you to Oakland A’s bench coach Ryan Christenson … who likely saw his last day on an MLB field
W … T … F?!?! (@1053TheFan @1053SS @RJChoppy) pic.twitter.com/RlNbeRgjeo
— T̷R̷O̷Y̷ ̷H̷U̷G̷H̷E̷S̷ (@TommySledge) August 7, 2020
After footage of 46-year-old Christenson’s gesture made the rounds on social media and people became outraged, he was asked about the situation.
I just spoke to Ryan Christenson and he said he knew instantly what it was about when David Forst called him because when he had reached out to do the karate chop with Hendriks, Hendriks said “No, no, no straight arm!” and Christenson took a second to realize what he meant.
— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) August 7, 2020
He also issued an apology through the team: “I made a mistake and will not deny it. Today in the dugout I greeted players with a gesture that was offensive. In the world today of COVID, I adapted our elbow bump, which we do after wins, to create some distance with the players. My gesture unintentionally resulted in a racist and horrible salute that I do not believe in. What I did is unacceptable and I deeply apologize.”
The team issued a separate statement and called the gesture “offensive.”
“We do not support or condone this gesture or the racist sentiment behind it,” the team said. “This is incredibly offensive, especially in these times when we as a club and so many others are working to expose and address racial inequities in our country. We are deeply sorry that this happened on our playing field.”
Christenson spent several years coaching in the minors after playing six years in the majors from 1998-2003. He became a bench coach for the A’s in 2018.
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