TA admits to pushing umpire, but says ‘he started it'

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Tim Anderson isn't hiding from his actions Monday in Detroit.

"Yeah, I pushed him," the Chicago White Sox' star shortstop said a day after he was handed a three-game suspension for making contact with an umpire during that benches-clearing scrum at Comerica Park.

But there's more to Anderson's side of the story.

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"But he started it."

Anderson is appealing the three-game ban, which only applies to regular-season games, putting him in no danger of missing any of the White Sox' postseason run and likely pushing the suspension's enforcement, however long it ends up being, to the 2022 campaign.

Whenever that process takes place, he'll argue his case, that while he did shove umpire Tim Timmons, a baseball no-no, it was a reactionary move to what Timmons did first.

"Did you see the video? He was pushing me," Anderson said before Friday's game against the Detroit Tigers. "I didn't realize who he was, because he was so close, pushing me. What's your reaction when someone pushes you? To push him off of you. So I pushed him off of me. And I realized it was him, but at that point, it's too late.

"He initiated it. I just pushed him back, I pushed him off of me, because he was kind of in my space, a little too close.

"He was saying, 'You guys are in the playoffs, you guys are in the playoffs.' At that point, I'm thinking, obviously, we just got done pushing from the other players, so I pushed him off of me, told him I don't give a 'bleep.' And I think he was mad about that, that part that I said, when I said 'I don't give an 'F.'

"But I didn't realize it was the umpire. Obviously, we all know if I would have seen him, and I knew that's who it was, obviously I wouldn't just be pushing an umpire (if) he didn't do anything to me. So, it kind of didn't make sense.

"Yeah, he definitely initiated it, so of course I'm going to push him back. I come to find out it was him. But it's all right."

Anderson's immediate reaction to the suspension came in the form of a tweet, one of the faces of baseball's new generation saying, "I call BS" on social media.

We'll have to wait to see what becomes of the suspension, which fortunately for the White Sox does not throw a last-minute wrench into their plans for a lengthy postseason run, something they'll need Anderson in order to accomplish.

But no matter how this resolves, you can chalk this up as another example of Anderson speaking his mind, showing the kind of personality that's made him a national figure and the face of the franchise on the South Side.

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