Houston – Shortly after Lance McCullers JRThe family of. received online death threats after a difficult start Astros Pitch, his 5 -year -old daughter, Ava, heard his wife Kara talking about it on the phone.
What followed was a painful conversation between McCullers and his little daughter.
“She asked me when I got home:” Dad, like, what is threats? Who wants to hurt us? Who wants to hurt me? “,” McCullers told the Associated Press on Wednesday. “So these conversations are difficult to manage.”
McCullers is one of the two MLB launchers whose families have received death threats this month, because the abuses on the Internet of players and their families are increasing. Boston Red Sox relieve Liam Hendriks I went to social networks shortly after the incident with McCullers to call people who threatened the life of Hendriks’ wife and directed “vile” comments.
The Astros contacted MLB security and the Houston police service following threats to McCullers. A police spokesperson said on Thursday that there was an investigation in progress.
McCullers, who has two young girls, took immediate action after threats and hired 24 -hour security for his family.
“You have to that time,” he said.
League players agree that online abuses have gradually aggravated in recent years. Milwaukee‘s Christian YelichA 13 -year -old veteran and the ultimate player from the 2018 National League, said that receiving online abuses is “a night thing” for most players.
“I think that in recent years, it has definitely increased,” he said. “It has increased to the point that you are just:” Very well, let’s go. “It no longer even registers on your radar.
And many players believe that it is directly linked to the increase in legalized sports betting.
“You get a lot of DMS or things like that about you by ruining someone’s bet or something ridiculous like that,” said the relief of the veterans of the Red Sox Justin Wilson said. “I suppose they should make better bets.”
Hendriks, a 36 -year -old lift who had already undergone treatment for non -Hodgkinian lymphoma, said on Instagram that he and his wife had received death threats after a defeat against the New York Mets. He added that people had left comments saying they wanted to be dead of cancer, among other abusive comments.
“Enough, that’s enough,” he said. “As at a given time, everyone as sucking and facing it does not do anything. And we go to security. We go to whom we need, but nothing ends up. And that happens the next night.
“And so, at some point, someone must take a stand. And that is one of those things where, the more we look up, the more we talk about it, I hope it can push him in the right direction.”
Astros and Red Sox work with MLB security to take measures against social media users who lead threats to players and their families. Red Sox spokesperson Abby Murphy said he took action in recent years to make sure that players’ families have been safe during the matches. This includes security personnel and Boston police station in the family section at home and dedicated security during the itinerant part to monitor the family section on the road.
“I think that in recent years, it has definitely increased. It has increased to the point that you are right:” Okay, let’s go. “It no longer even registers on your radar.
Christian Yelich, on players receiving threatening messages
Murphy said that the identification of those that constitute online anonymous threats is difficult, but “Red Sox and MLB have Cyber programs and analysts and analysts dedicated to the identification and deletion of these accounts”.
Astros have uniform police stationed in the family section, a practice that was implemented long before the threats against McCullers and his family.
For some players, online abuses have become so bad that they have abandoned social media. Detroit Tigers Stars Riley Greene said he had left social networks because he had received so many messages from people blaming him for failed bets.
“I deleted it,” he said about Instagram. “I am outside that. It sucks, but it is the world in which we live, and we can not do anything about it. People DM and say unpleasant things, tell me how bad I am a player and say unpleasant things that we do not want to hear.”
McCULLERS, 31, who returned this year after missing two complete seasons with injuries, said that doing this was the worst thing that happened in his career. He understands the passion of fans and knows that being criticized for poor performance is part of the game. But he believes that there is a “moral line” that fans should not cross.
“People should want us to succeed,” he said. “We want to succeed, but that should not have a cost for our families, the children of our lives, having to feel as if they are not safe where they live or where they are sitting on games.”
Astros Joe Espada manager was livid when he learned the threats to McCullers and his family and was visibly upset when he approached what happened with journalists.
Espada said that the team has mental health professionals available to players to talk about the results of these abuses who take them and any other problem with which they could face.
“We are aware that when we walk on the ground, the fans expect what we expect and we expect the best of ourselves,” said Espada this week. “But when we try to do our best and things do not go in our direction while we try to give you everything we have and now threaten our families and our children – now I have a big problem with that, right? I didn’t like that.”
Kansas City‘s Salvador PerezA 14 -year -old MLB veteran has not undergone online violence but was dismayed by what happened to McCullers. If something like that happened to him, he said, it would change the way he interacts with the fans.
“Now, some fans, real fans, they will pay for that too,” he said. “Because if I were him, I wouldn’t take any photos or would not sign anything for anyone because of it one day.”
McCullers would not go so far but admitted that it had changed mind.
“It makes you somehow a little,” he said. “It makes you somehow not wanting to go to places. I suppose it is probably the human reaction.”
Although most players have dealt with a certain level of violence in their careers, no one has a good idea how to stop it.
“I am grateful not to be in a position where I have to find a solution to this,” said the launcher Tigers Tyler Holton said. “But as a person involved, I hope that it is not a subject of conversation.”
Chicago White Sox outfall Mike Tauchman is discouraged by the way the bad abuse of players has become. Although it was especially online, he said he had teammates who had racist and homophobic things that had shouted during the matches.
“Apart from just not having social media, I really do not see that it improves before it continues to worsen,” he said. “I mean, I think it’s a bit the way things are now. Like people just have the impression of having the right to say what they want who they want and it is behind a keyboard and there is really no repercussions, right?”
