The Tigers on Wednesday terminated the contract of pitching coach Chris Bosio.
General manager Al Avila said the action was taken because of insensitive comments Bosio made to a club employee. The comments, Avila said, violated company policy and the terms of Bosio’s contract.
One day after the Tigers fired pitching coach Chris Bosio for making insensitive comments, Bosio claimed it was a result of a misunderstanding with an African-American clubhouse attendant, according to USA Today.
“These decisions are always difficult,” Avila said. “But when it comes upon you, you have to take responsibility and take action. Nobody likes to fire anybody, but sometimes you have no choice.”
Bosio said that the attendant overheard him joking around with other coaches when he called pitcher Daniel Stumpf a "spider monkey."
"Someone in our coaches’ room asked me [Monday afternoon] about Stumpf," Bosio said. “And I said, 'Oh, you mean, 'Spider Monkey.' That’s his nickname. He’s a skinny little white kid who makes all of these funny faces when he works out.
"The [attendant] thought we were talking about him. He got all upset. He assumed we were talking about him. I said, 'No, no, no. We're talking about Stumpf.'
"And that was it. I swear on my mom and dad's graves, there was nothing else to it."
Bosio said that he plans to hire an attorney to see if a wrongful termination lawsuit can be filed.
The Tigers hired Bosio during the offseason after he was fired by the Chicago Cubs. Bosio was the pitching coach with the Cubs from 2012 to 2017 and won a World Series in 2016 due to strong performances by Jake Arrieta, Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks and others pitchers.
I’ve got protect myself someway,’’ Bosio says, “because this is damaging as hell to me. I’ve got to fight for myself. Everyone knows this is not me. I didn’t use any profanity. There was no vulgarity. The N-word wasn’t used. No racial anything. It was a comment, and a nickname we used for a player.
