Chicago Cubs: Team investigating racist hand gesture

The Chicago Cubs are reportedly investigating a racist hand gesture caught on camera when Doug Glanville was providing a sideline report.

The Chicago Cubs are dealing with another potential racist gesture coming on the heels of Joe Ricketts’ emails that carried racist and anti-Muslim messages. He is the father of Cubs’ chairman Tom Ricketts and was the former CEO of TD Ameritrade that largely helped finance the purchase of the Cubs.

Tom (Ricketts) has since distanced his father from the team issuing this statement:

"“My father is not involved with the operation of the Chicago Cubs in any way,” Tom Ricketts said in a statement. “I am trusted with representing this organization and our fans with a respect for people from all backgrounds. These emails do not reflect the culture we’ve worked so hard to build at the Chicago Cubs since 2009.” – via USAToday"

Well, now the Cubs are potentially facing another racial incident, this time by a fan that was caught on camera during last night’s broadcast. Doug Glanville is an African American MLB analyst who works for NBC Sports Chicago and was doing a sideline interview when a fan flashed the white supremacy sign. The gesture is an upside “OK” sign and can be seen here.

I will be honest. I did not know that this gesture had anything to do with racism. To this point, I had known it to be a game if you held that hand gesture below the waist and got someone to look, you were able to punch them in the arm.

Cubs’ President of Business Operations, Crane Kenney, issued a statement at 12:57 am this morning on the incident:

"“Such ignorant and repulsive behavior is not tolerated at Wrigley Field,” Kenney said in the statement. “We are reviewing the incident thoroughly because no one should be subjected to this type of offensive behavior.”The statement went on to say that “any individual behaving in this manner will not only be removed from the ballpark, but will be permanently banned from Wrigley Field.” – via ESPN"

Regardless of the fan’s intent, you always have to be careful when you know you’re going to be on camera and not do anything that might be taken the wrong way. Cubs fans should be pleased with the team’s proactive approach in finding this person, especially after the Joe Ricketts email debacle.

It will be interesting to see if they can track this guy down and determine what his intent was.