Andre Ethier was photographed flipping the bird earlier this week during batting practice to a photographer who he called “distracting”and his manager spoke on the situation Thursday.
“You just don’t like seeing it, speaking from an organizational standpoint, it’s not something that we can condone. I’m not going to sit here and say we think it’s OK and try to make any excuses for it. I talked to Andre about it, and we’re going to handle it internally. It’s more of a family problem than anything else.”
Ethier apologized following the game:
“My whole thing was, our group had 10 minutes for batting practice, after five minutes I asked the person to please leave the area. He didn’t do it. I asked him again. He didn’t acknowledge, he didn’t do it. I’m sorry now that it happened. I didn’t use good judgment. If you’re going to stand there and take the same picture, what’s the difference from the first minute to the 15th minute? It’s kind of annoying. Obviously, I used bad judgment. Major League Baseball grants that access because good things come out of it. I have to remember that when I put on a uniform and walk out there on the field, it’s public domain. Sometimes that temper you have all written about me (having) gets the best of me.”
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