Hader Tweets

[JimH5]

A three game suspension won’t change your dislike for the guy now that this has come out. The guy was/is a turd. It is up to him how he is perceived going forward. If he’s smart, he will have quite a few discussions with Braun on how to deal with fans going forward.

 

Agreed with everything. My call for a suspension isn't to placate me. It's to send a message to women, African Americans and the gay community that MLB takes this seriously, and that the game is punishing a player to has shown himself to be disrespectful of them.

 

I think it's possible to believe Hader's comments last night and still need to punish him for allowing this stain to happen.

[JimH5]

My suspension recommendations aren't for the vile stuff he tweeted as a minor, but for his 7 years of inaction since then to disassociate himself from the hatred and bigotry.

 

Imagine the Brewers playing on the road at someone else's Pride Night, and they bring in Hader to pitch. If he hasn't served a suspension, what kind of message does that give the fans who have been specifically invited to attend that night?

So you want to suspend him because he forgot to delete some tweets?

 

Yes, given the vile content of those tweets and the distraction they caused on a night we should be celebrating baseball.

[FVBrewerFan]

It's all so inauthentic and pointless. I don't view Hader as any kind of victim, but this crap is never about ending racism/misogyny/whatever. It's about destroying people, standing on a pedestal and enjoying a good witch hunt because some people have nothing better to do.

 

No, it's not all about destroying people. It's about a person saying some really hateful things and being held accountable for it. It's not a witch hunt, he said these things. And throughout his professional career as an adult knew that stuff was out there and wasn't bothered by it enough to get rid of it.

 

I agree there's a difference between saying it when you're 17 vs 23. But from many of the posts I've seen, it sounds like people dismiss it completely because he was 17. I don't. As I said earlier, all we can do is hope he really has changed- for his own sake.

[Samurai Bucky]

I thought about posting this morning when I got to work at 6. Didn't even know where to start.

 

There are some crimes that youth commit that are then sealed and not part of the person's record when he/she is an adult (note-- I'm not indicating this is or is not a crime by Hader). The problem is that "social justice" is something completely different.

 

He was 17. At what age is he "held accountable?" 7 years ago, there wasn't much discipline about tweeting, posting vines, or even texting for that matter. Did he say that he snapped Suzie's bra strap?

 

Also, it will be interesting to see if his teammates say, "Hell yeah! I could see Hader saying this stuff. He is a real piece of work." If his current behavior has been egregious, this would be the kick in the pants to throw Hader under the bus. I don't know how "socially active" the Brewers players are.

 

This does give me a chance to teach my young adult and teenage children what happens when you post stuff on Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc.

[homer]

A three game suspension won’t change your dislike for the guy now that this has come out. The guy was/is a turd. It is up to him how he is perceived going forward. If he’s smart, he will have quite a few discussions with Braun on how to deal with fans going forward.

 

 

I have a hard time saying what Josh Hader "is" based on this episode.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

A three game suspension won’t change your dislike for the guy now that this has come out. The guy was/is a turd. It is up to him how he is perceived going forward. If he’s smart, he will have quite a few discussions with Braun on how to deal with fans going forward.

 

Agreed with everything. My call for a suspension isn't to placate me. It's to send a message to women, African Americans and the gay community that MLB takes this seriously, and that the game is punishing a player to has shown himself to be disrespectful of them.

 

I think it's possible to believe Hader's comments last night and still need to punish him for allowing this stain to happen.

 

Yep, you punish him for being an idiot, not for being insensitive. The only precedent that sets is "hey, if you were once an idiot, take precautions to scrub it."

[YelichPosse]

The Riley Cooper thing, happened while he was a grown man - if I recall within a year of the findings - so he sure deserved to be held accountable.

 

What's funny/sad is that the guy the Bucks drafted... did he not have a basically EXACT situation like Hader's? Where things surfaced from when he was a kid and he deleted it all? If I'm not mistaken....

[82brewcrew82]

A three game suspension won’t change your dislike for the guy now that this has come out. The guy was/is a turd. It is up to him how he is perceived going forward. If he’s smart, he will have quite a few discussions with Braun on how to deal with fans going forward.

 

Agreed with everything. My call for a suspension isn't to placate me. It's to send a message to women, African Americans and the gay community that MLB takes this seriously, and that the game is punishing a player to has shown himself to be disrespectful of them.

 

I think it's possible to believe Hader's comments last night and still need to punish him for allowing this stain to happen.

So the fact that the people currently in his life vouch for him and say that this isn't who he is today doesn't send a message? It think that clearly says he recognized his ways and he corrected that behavior before anyone called him out on it. He changed because he wanted to, not because he got caught. I think that says a ton about who he is. Do we go back 10 years and punish any player that has shown disrespect to a minority group when they were a teenager and punish them for who they used to be?

[chuckiehacks]

I think the MLB CBA is pretty tight when it comes to discipline - it's not the NFL where they just make it up as they go. This makes me think the punishment will come from the team, and it think it will be a suspension.

 

I also think Josh Hader should plan to be at every community event the team holds, because this is going to stick with him for a long time. I'm sure Braun can give him tips for all the canned food drives, ticket give aways, etc. he'll be attending.

[KeithStone53151]

It's all so inauthentic and pointless. I don't view Hader as any kind of victim, but this crap is never about ending racism/misogyny/whatever. It's about destroying people, standing on a pedestal and enjoying a good witch hunt because some people have nothing better to do.

 

No, it's not all about destroying people. It's about a person saying some really hateful things and being held accountable for it. It's not a witch hunt, he said these things. And throughout his professional career as an adult knew that stuff was out there and wasn't bothered by it enough to get rid of it.

 

I agree there's a difference between saying it when you're 17 vs 23. But from many of the posts I've seen, it sounds like people dismiss it completely because he was 17. I don't. As I said earlier, all we can do is hope he really has changed- for his own sake.

 

Also we dismiss it based on how his teammates reacted and the way he's carried himself that we've seen. He doesn't appear to be anything like the twitter mentions.

 

And going through the exercise of digging through tweets 7 years ago is basically a witch hunt. You can bet your bottom dollar that every player/agent/team is digging through all their old twitter/facebook/whatever to make sure nothing like this happens with anyone else...because tons of people(fans/media/etc) are doing the same thing trying to find similar stuff to what they found on Hader so they can blast it out and try to destroy more people's lives.

[pacopete4]

A three game suspension won’t change your dislike for the guy now that this has come out. The guy was/is a turd. It is up to him how he is perceived going forward. If he’s smart, he will have quite a few discussions with Braun on how to deal with fans going forward.

 

 

I have a hard time saying what Josh Hader "is" based on this episode.

 

Yeah I don’t know him. I put the “is” part in there only because if he has a history of this stuff, there’s a chance he’s still a turd. He’s done nothing recently for me to believe he is and his teammates coming to his defense a bit helps his case, that’s for sure.

[KeithStone53151]

The Riley Cooper thing, happened while he was a grown man - if I recall within a year of the findings - so he sure deserved to be held accountable.

 

What's funny/sad is that the guy the Bucks drafted... did he not have a basically EXACT situation like Hader's? Where things surfaced from when he was a kid and he deleted it all? If I'm not mistaken....

 

Absolutely, and that's my point. Jeffress/Cain don't have any obligation to make the comments they are making and defend Hader. Look at some of the comments from Vick, Mccoy, other black players on the Eagles in regards to Cooper. They didn't brush it aside for the good of the team. Cain/Jeffress are defending Hader, and that speaks volumes for me.

[bork]

The price he'll pay is probably never making another all star game. I do wonder how this will affect him mentally, especially since he has been struggling a bit lately already.

 

And this is another example of why I root for the Brewers and don't get too caught up in the individual players (illegal drug users, liars, cheaters, wife beaters, etc) and haven't had a jersey or t-shirt of a current player in a long time.

[ReverendBrewmeister]

My suspension recommendations aren't for the vile stuff he tweeted as a minor, but for his 7 years of inaction since then to disassociate himself from the hatred and bigotry.

 

Imagine the Brewers playing on the road at someone else's Pride Night, and they bring in Hader to pitch. If he hasn't served a suspension, what kind of message does that give the fans who have been specifically invited to attend that night?

So you want to suspend him because he forgot to delete some tweets?

 

Yes, given the vile content of those tweets and the distraction they caused on a night we should be celebrating baseball.

 

Daring to wade into this mess, I do have some concern about timing of this entire matter. The problem with the tweets--beyond their content, which ranges from stupid to ugly at best--is that they were done well before Hader became an employee of the Milwaukee Brewers or MLB. In fact, he had become an employee with those tweets extant.

 

If the Brewers or MLB want to suspend a player for performing acts that are distracting from baseball while being an employee, more power to them. Codes of conduct exist for many, if not most, employees. But to do so for something done prior to becoming an employee? That doesn't quite seem correct. (Again, that is not excusing the content.)

 

Perhaps a regulating of Twitter presence after being drafted and upon signing a contract should become part of the MLB employment process.

[pacopete4]

A three game suspension won’t change your dislike for the guy now that this has come out. The guy was/is a turd. It is up to him how he is perceived going forward. If he’s smart, he will have quite a few discussions with Braun on how to deal with fans going forward.

 

Agreed with everything. My call for a suspension isn't to placate me. It's to send a message to women, African Americans and the gay community that MLB takes this seriously, and that the game is punishing a player to has shown himself to be disrespectful of them.

 

I think it's possible to believe Hader's comments last night and still need to punish him for allowing this stain to happen.

 

I can understand that take. I’m not sure I agree with it but if it were to happen, I would understand why.

[reillymcshane]

I will start by saying I've read a few of the tweets - but I don't know exactly how many they are and how deeply the tweets cut. But I'll just add the following.

 

People do stupid and wrong things in life. But these kinds of things can be compounded by having an intent of malice, or meant to cause physical and emotional harm. Again, I haven't seen all the tweets, but I don't think Hader's tweets go to that level. His youth does not excuse him of his actions. He's got to walk in and face his teammates and friends and explain the situation. But in the end, I hope people can forgive (or at least be open to forgiving) a young man for his stupid and wrong actions he took as a high schooler. To me, it's what he is now - and where is going forward - what matters. He's done something wrong, and there will be consequences, but what the character of Josh Hader today is what really matters going forward - and I hope he commits himself to proving he is a person of high standards.

 

As for this being a non-story - that's crap. You spew racist or homophobic stuff in a public forum (and Twitter is a public forum) you're making an ugly side of yourself available to the world. Sure you're allowed to have the views - even state them in public. But businesses (and baseball is a business) generally have standards they expect from their employees. To just wash it away as 'free speech' or whatever is wrong. He's a public person in a public position and his contract has language addressing this kind of behavior. That makes it an issue for a lot of people.

 

In the end, I'm not going to defend or attack Hader (or maybe I'm defending and attacking him at the same time). I'll just move on and expect the best from the guy.

[torts]

a vast majority of adults today did not have public social media accounts when they were teenagers. these adults were born into society already breaking social communication barriers with the knowledge that what goes on the internet stays on the internet. Yes, a lot of adults of all generations have/had/do say terrible things, even as teenagers, but most of those adults were "privileged" to be born in the dark ages of technology. adults should be held accountable for their actions at any age. I dont care if its been 5 years or 50 years, you say something hateful, and you make yourself a public figure, you should have to explain yourself when it is found. hate festers.

 

also, no one* creates private twitter accounts, it defeats the purpose (especially for young kids/adults), and the platform we all know Twitter to be is less than 10 years old. Hader is also a public figure, and puts himself and whatever he makes public, fair game for scrutiny. he's already made his twitter account private.

 

 

 

*okay, some do.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

It's all so inauthentic and pointless. I don't view Hader as any kind of victim, but this crap is never about ending racism/misogyny/whatever. It's about destroying people, standing on a pedestal and enjoying a good witch hunt because some people have nothing better to do.

 

No, it's not all about destroying people. It's about a person saying some really hateful things and being held accountable for it. It's not a witch hunt, he said these things. And throughout his professional career as an adult knew that stuff was out there and wasn't bothered by it enough to get rid of it.

 

I agree there's a difference between saying it when you're 17 vs 23. But from many of the posts I've seen, it sounds like people dismiss it completely because he was 17. I don't. As I said earlier, all we can do is hope he really has changed- for his own sake.

 

Dude. He wasn't bothered by it because he most likely forgot it was even there, and never gave it the time of day. You make it sound like he prepared some statement at 17 and gave it serious consideration. It was a fart in his head that he emptied into the digital world, because that is what stupid teenagers do in 2011. It was probably a funny thing to say to him.

 

No, I don't think he remembered or gave much thought, as a 24 y/o man playing all-star quality baseball, to his digital diarrhea from high school. Every now and then my Facebook memory shows something from college that makes me cringe and I delete it. This is so over the top.

[Chicago Here]

I think a better question is if he should not get a free pass, then what should he get? What would be acceptable atonement?

 

I think he should be suspended. If it's 3 days or 30 days, it doesn't really matter to me. Otherwise it sends a message to minority groups that MLB is tolerant to players with a history of bigotry.

 

Suspend somebody for things they said 7 years ago as a minor, before he was involved in baseball. Good thing you aren't making the decisions.

+1

[FVBrewerFan]

The Riley Cooper thing, happened while he was a grown man - if I recall within a year of the findings - so he sure deserved to be held accountable.

 

What's funny/sad is that the guy the Bucks drafted... did he not have a basically EXACT situation like Hader's? Where things surfaced from when he was a kid and he deleted it all? If I'm not mistaken....

 

Absolutely, and that's my point. Jeffress/Cain don't have any obligation to make the comments they are making and defend Hader. Look at some of the comments from Vick, Mccoy, other black players on the Eagles in regards to Cooper. They didn't brush it aside for the good of the team. Cain/Jeffress are defending Hader, and that speaks volumes for me.

 

To be fair, it also doesn't prove anything that Cain/Jeffress say he's a good person. He probably is, I hope he is. But if still DOES feel this way about various group, pretty sure he wouldn't be sharing it with them right?

[chuckiehacks]

Regardless of any formal punishment or how fast some people think this will "blow over" (and I'd be curious if they would feel the same way if we were talking about something from say, Anthony Rizzo or Yadier Molina's past), this is going to stick with Hader for his career. He'll likely never get any endorsement deals, he'll be booed everywhere, and it's going to be attached to his name for his career.

[jerichoholicninja]

I, for one, am ecstatic that there is another player on the Brewers that people will be choosing sides over and dead set on vehemently defending or condemning for the next few years. The Braun stuff was getting old.

[KeithStone53151]

The Riley Cooper thing, happened while he was a grown man - if I recall within a year of the findings - so he sure deserved to be held accountable.

 

What's funny/sad is that the guy the Bucks drafted... did he not have a basically EXACT situation like Hader's? Where things surfaced from when he was a kid and he deleted it all? If I'm not mistaken....

 

Absolutely, and that's my point. Jeffress/Cain don't have any obligation to make the comments they are making and defend Hader. Look at some of the comments from Vick, Mccoy, other black players on the Eagles in regards to Cooper. They didn't brush it aside for the good of the team. Cain/Jeffress are defending Hader, and that speaks volumes for me.

 

To be fair, it also doesn't prove anything that Cain/Jeffress say he's a good person. He probably is, I hope he is. But if still DOES feel this way about various group, pretty sure he wouldn't be sharing it with them right?

 

It certainly isn't any sort of proof, but I'd consider those guys in a much better position to judge his true character than any of us from our computers looking at 7 year old tweets. If there were any signs that those tweets were his current character, I doubt you see supportive comments from those 2 guys.

[reillymcshane]

By the way, if people want a comparison, Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills did this same thing. Wrote similar type stuff on Twitter in high school. As a first round pick in the NFL this past spring, Allen is a higher profile person (and he's a quarterback).

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Regardless of any formal punishment or how fast some people think this will "blow over" (and I'd be curious if they would feel the same way if we were talking about something from say, Anthony Rizzo or Yadier Molina's past), this is going to stick with Hader for his career. He'll likely never get any endorsement deals, he'll be booed everywhere, and it's going to be attached to his name for his career.

 

Maybe, I don't see this sticking that long. Locally it will have legs, but I think this is buried on a national level in a couple of days. He isn't a big enough star for it to stick like that. He's a relief pitcher without even the branding of being a "closer." Loads of people never heard of the guy until yesterday. I don't think people will be booing him two years from now. I just don't think he has that kind of hold. The rest of the season, for sure, but I think it's fairly short-lived.