White Sox’s Tim Anderson ejected from game for getting hit by pitch

Chicago White Sox SS Tim Anderson falls victim to baseball’s “unwritten rules” and gets tossed from a game on Wednesday because of it.

Tim Anderson, shortstop for the Chicago White Sox, took a moment on Wednesday to enjoy a home run in what’s so far been a career season. It ended with him getting tossed out of the game after a play where he was the victim.

Anderson, 25, hit a 420-foot home run to left field in the bottom of the fourth inning on Wednesday afternoon to give the White Sox a 2-0 lead over the Kansas City Royals. After connecting with Royals’ starter Brad Keller’s fastball, he stood and stared as the ball flew into the seats at Guaranteed Rate Field before throwing his bat back toward the White Sox dugout.

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His posturing clearly upset the Royals, for the next time he came up to bat, in the sixth inning, Keller hit him in the hip with a 92 MPH fastball on the first pitch. Anderson had to be held back from charging at Keller by Royals catcher Martin Maldonado. The benches cleared, with White Sox manager Rick Renteria and Royals manager Ned Yost exchanging heated words on the field.

Anderson stayed safely out of the scrum. When tempers finally calmed and those involved started to walk off the field, Keller was understandably ejected from the game. For some reason, so was Anderson.

The umpire who made the call to throw out Anderson was Joe West. West, who started umpiring in the Majors in 1976, ranks second all-time with more than 5,000 games. He’s seen plenty of bat flipping, intentional beanings and bench-clearing brawls. But there was no reason for him to throw out Anderson, who did nothing wrong beside express joy at hitting a home run. The internet took notice. Someone quickly edited West’s Wikipedia page to call him a racist for ejecting Anderson, who is African American.

Anderson and the Royals already have a history of getting into heated exchanges. Last April, after Anderson led off a game against Kansas City with a home run, he and catcher Salvador Perez got into an argument as he crossed home plate. No one was ejected, but Anderson probably wasn’t already well-liked inside the Royals clubhouse.

“The way things have been going, you’re not in the most jovial of moods anyway,” said Yost when trying to explain that incident. “And then you start off the game with a homer, and then the guy’s screaming. Yeah, it tends to give you the a–.”

Anderson, in his fourth season with the White Sox, came into play on Wednesday leading the AL with a .421 AVG. His two-run homer gives him four on the season after a career-high 20 home runs a year ago.