Jays’ Yunel Escobar given a 3-game suspension

Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Yunel Escobar has been suspended for three games beginning Tuesday night after wearing a homophobic slur on his face during a weekend game.

Escobar played Saturday’s home game against the Boston Red Sox with a homophobic slur written in Spanish under his eyes.

Several pictures posted online show Escobar with “Tu ere maricon” message written on his eye-black stickers, which are often worn under the eyes to reduce the sun’s glare.

At a news conference held by the Toronto Blue Jays and Major League Baseball, Escobar apologized to the fans and to his team.

He said he did not mean to offend anyone.

“I’m sorry for what happened and I guarantee this will not happen again in my career,” he said. “It was not something I intended to be offensive. It was nothing intentional directed at anyone in particular. I don’t have anything against homosexuals.”

He went on to say that the homophobic slur is commonly used in the Latino community.

“It’s just something that’s been said around other Latinos. It’s not something that was meant to be offensive. For us, it didn’t have the significance in the way that it’s being interpreted right now.”

The salary forfeited by Escobar’s during his suspension will go to You Can Play and the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation causes. The amount to be donated works out to $30,864 a game for a total of $92,592.

Patrick Burke, president of You Can Play, Tweeted his support of how the situation was handled.

When asked why no one on the team noticed the slur written on the eye-black, Blue Jays manager John Farrell said no one really paid attention to it.

“If you look back there’s a number of occasions where Yunel has written a message on the eye-black patches that he does wear and because it’s frequently done on his part, really no one paid attention to it,” said Farrell.

“The ones that we are aware of were always about something uplifting and motivational to his teammates like lets go today or something that’s of encouragement so there was really no reason to think there was anything derogatory or anything pointing at one individual or any group.”

Farrell said they spoke to the rest of the team before the suspension was announced. He said his reaction to learning what the eye-black message meant was surprise.

“My reaction initially was one of surprise. Knowing Yunel in many different situations, this is completely out of character as I know him as a person and a player.”

The 29-year-old Cuban shortstop made his big-league debut with Atlanta in 2007 and was traded to the Blue Jays in 2010.

Escobar is batting .259 this season with nine home runs and 49 RBIs.

Toronto will open a three-game series tonight against the Yankees.

With files from The Canadian Press