MLB Says Radio Host Colin Cowherd Owes Dominicans An Apology For Remarks

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — Major League Baseball says ESPN Radio host Colin Cowherd owes Dominican players an apology for remarks he made during his show.

In a statement Friday, baseball says it "condemns the remarks," calling them "inappropriate, offensive and completely inconsistent with the values of our game."

Cowherd had said Thursday that he didn't believe baseball was complex, saying a third of the sport was from the Dominican Republic, which had "not been known, in my lifetime, as having, you know, world-class academic abilities."

There were 83 Dominican players on opening-day rosters, representing about 10 percent of all players in the majors.

One of them, Blue Jays star Jose Bautista, asked Cowherd on Twitter on Thursday for an explanation.

MLB followed Friday, saying: "Mr. Cowherd owes our players of Dominican origin, and Dominican people generally, an apology."

In a statement about Cowherd's remarks, players' union head Tony Clark said "to make an ignorant point by denigrating the intelligence of our Dominican members was not 'clunky' — it was offensive."

ESPN recently said Cowherd is leaving the network amid reports he's going to rival Fox Sports 1.

(TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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