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The New York Daily News has repeatedly corrected this story abut Jason Heyward and the Cardinals without alerting readers.
The latest rumor stirring up Cardinals Nation is a doozy: Some baseball fans are saying they heard St. Louis Cardinals supporters yell a racial slur at former Redbird Jason Heyward when he came up for his first at bat in Busch Stadium since signing to the Chicago Cubs.
Some say they heard the slur over the telecast. Others say they, or someone they know, heard it at the game. So far, ESPN officials have said publicly they’ve “yet to pick up any tangible specifics from the ESPN game audio.”
Whether it happened or not, it’s not hard to believe that one or two individuals who support the Cardinals would also use a racial slur. It’s happened before, in fan bases across the MLB and certainly among Cardinals fans. There’s even a whole Twitter feed dedicated to highlighting the racist, sexist, and otherwise offensive tweets from Cardinals fans, the so-called Best Fans in Baseball. Some people suck, regardless of what sports franchise they support.
But a simple Google search will show you that only one outlet is posting about the incident with any degree of certainty: the New York Daily News, whose headline reads, “Jason Heyward blitzed with alleged N-word taunts from Cardinals fans in return to St. Louis.”
The story started by claiming that “ESPN crowd mics picked up multiple Cardinals fans allegedly yelling the N-word.” The news outlet has since deleted the word “ESPN” from that line, probably because the sports network says this isn’t proven. There is no note in the story to indicate it has been updated.
How did the New York Daily News know that the slur was caught on mic in the first place? No idea, because they certainly didn’t have access to the game’s audio, as reporter Julie DiCaro of 87.7 WGN Radio in Chicago confirmed with the newspaper.
The closest thing to proof the story offers is four tweets, two of which have since been deleted. None of the tweets are specific or detailed enough to qualify as definitive proof, especially in a journalistic setting, that Cardinals fans used a slur against Heyward.
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Tweets used by the New York Daily News to support its story about Heyward and Cardinals fans.
But things get fishy a few paragraphs down, when author Kate Feldman says Heyward “said he was fine with being booed,” supported by a quote sourced from ESPN. When this story originally went live, Feldman said Heyward wasn’t aware of the racial taunts after the game but gave no evidence to support that statement. The part about Heyward not hearing the slur has been deleted, again without notice to readers.
What really makes no sense at all is the quote Feldman uses to support her claim that Heyward was “fine” being booed came from ESPN *before* the game.
Here’s how ESPN wrote up Heyward’s quote:
Heyward said prior to the game that he was prepared for that and welcomed it. "If somebody boos me here, that means they were not happy to see me leave," Heyward said. "I'm kind of glad that people weren't happy to see me leave. The fans should enjoy it, and we're going to enjoy it."
And here’s how Feldman wrote it:
After the game, Heyward said he was fine with being booed. “If somebody boos me here, that means they were not happy to see me leave,” he told ESPN. “I'm kind of glad that people weren't happy to see me leave. The fans should enjoy it, and we're going to enjoy it.”
Feldman did not respond to SLM’s phone or email inquiries.
SLM could only find one person on Twitter who said they heard the racial slur with their own ears. That tweet has since been deleted. Another tweet comes from someone whose friends say they heard the slur.
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This tweet has since been deleted.
And we’re not the only ones looking for clues. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch says there’s “no evidence” so far that the incident happened:
The Post-Dispatch is working to independently confirm what statements and taunts, if any, can be heard. Reporters at the ballpark did not have access to the broadcast mentioned, and any individual taunts from fans that could have been picked up by the mic were drowned out by the crowd noise that was heard in the press box.
Here’s all Heyward said after the game, according to the Post:
"Who didn't say anything?" Heyward said. "Obviously people are going to say something. There's a lot of Cubs fans here, too."
So did some racist hick hurl a bad word at a talented baseball player who broke St. Louis’ heart when he joined a rival team? Possibly. Is there any proof? Not yet.
But one thing is for sure: The NY Daily News story about the incident has none of the answers.
Contact Lindsay Toler by an email at LToler@stlmag.com or on Twitter @StLouisLindsay. For more from St. Louis Magazine, subscribe or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
