Josh Donaldson vs White Sox, Tim Anderson bad blood: A complete timeline

Where do things stand between the White Sox and Josh Donaldson? The Yankees infielder has some explaining to do, but this feud goes back a long way.

On Sunday, Donaldson and Tim Anderson got into a skirmish related to comments made by the former, which Anderson deemed racially-infused. Donaldson called Anderson ‘Jackie’, related to a 2019 interview the latter gave stating he was taking on a role as baseball’s new Jackie Robinson.

Donaldson claimed he had made said joke before.

Nonetheless, there’s a difference between Anderson making said comment, and Donaldson calling using it to spite him ironically. Jackie’s name should never be used as an insult, especially towards an African-American man.

Tony La Russa and Yasmani Grandal came to the defense of the White Sox star shortstop, stating that they had a problem with Donaldson’s remarks as well.

Yet, this isn’t the first time Donaldson and the Sox have feuded. The complete timeline may shed a little light on why Donaldson, in particular, got on Anderson’s nerves.

Josh Donaldson vs the White Sox, Tim Anderson: A complete timeline

We’ll start at the beginning. In 2019, Anderson said that he felt like today’s Jackie Robinson. Here is the complete quote, for context, from Lindsey Adler.

It was around this time, or shortly thereafter, when Donaldson claims he started joking with Anderson about the remark.

It’s also around this time that Donaldson and the White Sox had a few dramatic incidents. The first didn’t involve Chicago necessarily, but did get Donaldson ejected from a game in 2020. The then-Twins slugger stomped on home plate after arguing with the umpire during an at-bat, which was quickly followed by a home run and ejection.

Moving on, in 2021 Donaldson and Lucas Giolito nearly fought in the parking lot over his comments on ‘sticky stuff’. During the game, Donaldson was hit by a pitch and was seen barking at the Twins and White Sox dugouts about Giolito’s lack of control, and his inability to find a grip without spider tack, or a substance like it.

After Giolito called Donaldson a pest postgame, Donaldson met Giolito in the parking lot to hash things out. Safe to say…that’s not what happened.

"“It happened after the game. … He was walking in the parking lot, and I went and made sure he heard what I had to say to his face because that’s what he wanted. That’s what he wanted,” Donaldson said. “He said that he thought I was annoying. I said, ‘So what? I’m on the opposing team. What do you care about me?’ I said, ‘I’m in your face. I’m telling you what I think. What have you got to say about that?’ And he didn’t have any response.”"

Fast forward to earlier this season, and the benches cleared between the Yankees and South Siders due to a hard tag by Donaldson.

That…felt unnecessary.

While no punches were thrown, it provided plenty of fodder for a series just a few weeks later — this weekend — in which Donaldson made the ‘Jackie’ comment to Anderson, thus sparking everything that transpired on Saturday.

What’s to come? While it remains to be seen if Donaldson will play the rest of the series, or if he’ll receive some form of punishment from MLB, it will not come as soon as Sunday.