Negro Leagues museum president ‘disappointed’ by firing of A’s broadcaster Glen Kuiper

Kendrick said that Kuiper called him to offer an apology and "showed and demonstrated his remorse for something that he felt like was a word he had never used before,” Kendrick said. “Again, I have to take him at his word."

Bob Kendrick, the president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, said Monday that he was disappointed to see longtime Oakland A’s broadcaster Glen Kuiper fired for using a racial epithet on the air before an A’s game earlier this month.

“I was hoping it would not come to that because in my heart it was a mistake,” Kendrick said Monday by phone. “Was it a very sensitive mistake? Of course it was. But it was just that: a mistake.”

Kendrick said that Kuiper called him to offer an apology.

“He showed and demonstrated his remorse for something that he felt like was a word he had never used before,” Kendrick said. “Again, I have to take him at his word. And I’m really disappointed by the news. I hoped it wouldn’t come to that. I know how much pressure is put on when things like this happen.”

Kendrick said that Dallas Braden, Kuiper’s broadcast partner for NBC Sports California, had arranged a museum tour before the A’s series began in Kansas City. Braden called Kendrick to make sure Kendrick was in town to show them around.

“We had a great time walking around the museum, me telling stories as I typically do, telling Satchel Paige stories,” Kendrick said. “I know both guys had an amazing time. Dallas’s post on Twitter was very heartfelt about his experience at the museum. I know Glen shared a similar feeling of how special that place is and the experience they had at the museum.”

But when Kuiper began telling the audience about the visit to the museum on the broadcast before the A’s game later that day, he used a racial epithet in place of the word “negro.”

The following day, Kendrick used Twitter to post a comment in which he said the word “has no place in our society,” but offered forgiveness to Kuiper.

“Unfortunately it was a classic Freudian slip, but it still was a slip,” Kendrick said of Kuiper’s comment. “In my eyes and my heart, it was a mistake. I dont think it’s indicative of who he is as a person, which is why I was more willing to forgive.”

Kendrick said he received a lot of backlash for offering his forgiveness and that the museum has been fielding “phone call after phone call after phone call,” many of them hateful, in response to Kendrick’s comment.

“Who knew forgiveness would generate so much hate?” Kendrick said. “Seems counterintuitive. But that’s the world we live in in the world of social media. That platform is extremely powerful for good and for bad.”

The backlash that Kendrick has received “pales in comparison to how this will impact (Kuiper) and his family,” he said. “We’ll get through whatever we have to deal with. I just hope there will be an opportunity for him to extend his career.”

Kendrick wasn’t worried about more backlash for once again expressing his choice to forgive.

“I have to be true to who I am as a human being,” he said. “That’s kind of how I am grounded, to forgive those who make a mistake. Who amongst us hasn’t made a mistake? Some are obviously more significant than others. Mistakes nevertheless.”