D-backs’ Jon Duplantier recalls racist comment he faced in high school

Jon Duplantier decided to speak up.

“Initially, when they called me, I didn’t want to do it,” the Diamondbacks pitcher said in a roundtable called “Being Black in Baseball and America.” “I talked to somebody in our front office, and he was like, ‘I think it’s important. It’s very important that you get up and talk.'”

A nationwide conversation about race and justice has been brought to the forefront in the weeks following the death of George Floyd in the custody of police. Duplantier continued the conversation by participating in a roundtable that also included Sharon Robinson — the daughter of Jackie Robinson — Pirates first baseman Josh Bell and Marlins pitcher Sterling Sharp. It was moderated by MLB Network host Harold Reynolds.

Duplantier recalled a story of being an athlete in high school, playing baseball for a program where he was the only black player. There were no black coaches, either, he said. Then, during a scrimmage at another high school, Duplantier was the target of a racist comment while he was playing first base.

“During that scrimmage, at some point from the opposing team’s dugout, I heard someone say, ‘I’ve got a rope and a tree with your name on it,'” Duplantier recalled.

“I lost it. I lost it. Instantly. Dropped my glove, start walking towards the dugout. I could not hold back the emotions I was feeling. The one saving grace I had in that moment was the first base umpire was also black. And he got in front of me, he hugged me real tight, he said, ‘It’s not worth it. It’s not worth it.’ And cooled me off and I just walked to the dugout and said, ‘Hey, somebody else has got to go play first base. I need to cool off.'”

Duplantier said that after that, there wasn’t someone on his team to stand with him.

“But when that happened, there was no dialogue after that,” Duplantier said. “There was nobody after that on my team, a coach, there was nobody in my corner that I could voice what I was feeling on the inside. I could talk to my parents, but in that moment, we’re in high school, and it was like, ‘I’d go to war for these guys.’ I mean some of these guys have been my best friends since kindergarten. And in that moment, nobody had my back.

“It kind of felt like that going up through high school, college, even into pro ball. The [black] representation — because we talk about the low numbers — the representation is so low on the coaching side and the playing side and the management side, I feel like I’m on an island. I think a lot of guys feel like we’re on an island.”

On Wednesday, a letter written by Duplantier for The Athletic allowed him to share his thoughts even more. He recounted being a teenager and asking a police officer to use his phone when Duplantier was locked out of his house and his phone had died. The officer was skeptical that Duplantier lived in the house.

“We had lived there for three years and I was sure he had seen me come and go from the house countless times,” Duplantier wrote. “I quickly came to the realization that he asked me the question because, to him, I did not fit the description of those who lived in the neighborhood. Because of my skin, I stood out like a sore thumb and he chose to question me, someone who came to him for help, because of it.”

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