Chicago Cubs: “Baseball’s best fans” are anything but that

It’s a sad day when a professional baseball player is asked a question and then slandered by a fan base for his answer. Former Chicago Cubs outfielder–and current St. Louis Cardinals–gave his thoughts on the travel ban. His wife is from Iran. What follows is enough to make a person sick.

While Dexter Fowler was with the Chicago Cubs, he was by far one of the most well-liked players on the team. Active in the community, engaging with the fans. And a key part of the 2016 World Series winning team. Which is why it was CRUSHING to see him end up in St. Louis. And now I’m pretty sure that the city of St. Louis doesn’t deserve him.

Let me go ahead and give you the “official warning”. If you don’t like mixing “politics”–even though this is on the edge of qualifying–with your sports, stop reading now. But for the most part, this is about a player on a team who was asked a question about something pertaining DIRECTLY to him–his wife Darya is from Iran–and how that turned into a bashing of Fowler on several St. Louis blog and Twitter sites.

Chicago Cubs

When it comes to athletes, they aren’t property. They’re people. They have opinions, beliefs, and many other issues that they feel strongly about. So when a reporter asked Fowler about his opinion of President Trump and his “Muslim ban”, he simply said this:

"“It’s huge,” Fowler said. “Especially any time you’re not able to see your family, it’s unfortunate.”"

A simple reply went wrong

That’s it. End of comment. Nothing specifically about President Trump. Didn’t give his thoughts on the current political climate in America. This question could have been “How do you feel about traveling for road games?”. People would have been sympathetic. Well, maybe not Cardinals fans. And this is the type of thing that “Cardinal Nation” has been spewing since then.

This is just a sample, and I’m aware that this isn’t representative of ALL Cardinals fans. Look, Cubs fans can get just as nasty in online forums. Anyone can. People seem to feel that there are no repercussions for their words or actions. The anger that reading some of these made me feel is unreal.

For me, I’m able to separate the person from the athlete–in most cases. I don’t have to like them as a person. In fact, I wasn’t a big fan of Aroldis Chapman when the Cubs acquired him. One hell of a closer, but clearly came with baggage. But Chapman and Fowler aren’t even in the same realm with this nonsense.

Next: Cubs release broadcast schedule

I hope Fowler is able to go see his family with his wife and daughter. That’s the extent of the question he was asked, and it’s a sad day when that isn’t possible. But Cardinals fans have shown their true colors–at least a segment of them. The official team site has over 999k followers. The “Best Fans in Baseball” –an alternative fact, Cubs are the best fans–has just 33k. So it really is a small representation of the fans. But they’ve proven that they are anything but the best.