On Sunday afternoon, in the bottom of the sixth inning in the Red Sox's series finale against the Astros, Jarren Duran took a step out of the box with a 1-2 count to get his head on straight. He was already behind 0-2, and Boston was losing in spectacular fashion. They'd only gotten five hits down (all singles) while Houston rained runs down on them and bullied the Red Sox bullpen following an early exit for James Paxton.
A fan behind home plate was heard yelling at Duran, "Tennis racket, tennis racket, you need a tennis racket!" This was, by all accounts, a harmless taunt, one that Duran should've taken in his stride and let his ~.300 batting average on the season speak for him.
But he just couldn't let it slide, and he turned to yell back at the fan, using a homophobic slur in the process. It was faint on the broadcast but it was certainly discernible. After the game, both Duran and the Red Sox released an apology, with Duran's reading, "I used a truly horrific word when responding to a fan. I feel awful knowing how many people I offended and disappointed. I apologize to the entire Red Sox organization, but more importantly to the entire LGBTQ community."
Red Sox issue statement from Jarren Duran, who used homophobic slur during today’s game directed at a fan. pic.twitter.com/CYFYxXmID6
— Julian McWilliams (@byJulianMack) August 12, 2024
Jarren Duran uses homophobic slur to respond to heckling fan in Red Sox blowout against Astros
Aside from Duran being a fully grown man who simply shouldn't have stooped to yelling back at a fan, despite the clear frustration the entire team must've been feeling while they were on the verge of being swept, what kind of message does this send to LGBT fans (who certainly do exist, despite what Twitter replies might make you believe)? What could it enable in fans who might come to the ballpark and be inclined to use that kind of language?
Duran is quickly becoming a figurehead of this team. He's second only to Rafael Devers in most Red Sox hitting metrics and was the deserving MVP of the All-Star Game this year. When a team leader and a rising star in the sport decides to inflict harm on a notable subsection of the fan base in a city with one of the highest concentrations of LGBT people in the country, it telegraphs that baseball — which, distilled into its purest form, is quite literally just a game where men hit balls with sticks — is only for certain kinds of people. It tells those (who may already think that way) they're right.
LGBT fans are already forced to love this game in spite of this version of open hostility toward them, even knowing that it may always be present in the sport. Venturing into the comments section of Pride Night posts is enough to make LGBT fans feel wary rooting for their own team, but a star player leveling a slur at a fan, and letting it roll off of his tongue like it's the easiest thing in the world? Put in the simplest terms, it isolates fans and tells them that they cannot and should not feel safe in a ballpark, even if they've devoted just as much time and attention and love to their team as anyone else.
Despite the fact that 29 out of 30 teams, including the Red Sox, hold annual Pride Nights in June and typically pull out all the stops for them, baseball is still an undoubtedly unwelcome environment for both LGBT players and fans, and has a very long way to go before it shakes that reputation, if it ever does.
We won't speak in hyperbole here about Duran setting the effort back years because of his use of a slur, but it does is reveal exactly how much work the sport has to do as a whole.