It starts with the word, because the word matters. “TU ERE MARICON,” is what Yunel Escobar chose to wear on his eye-black during a baseball game on Saturday. The Toronto Blue Jays aren’t the Yankees, and have descended into their now-traditional August-September graveyard, but people still watch the games. There are cameras.

Since maricon can apparently be translated into “faggot” — or can simply mean effeminate, or weak, or be a blank term of derisive endearment — the club suspended Escobar for three games. At an apologetic news conference in New York on Tuesday, Escobar said, “It’s a word used often within teams. It’s a word without a meaning.” A few minutes later, asked what he meant by the message, he said, “It depends on how you say it, and who you say it to.”

It was both sad and unintentionally funny, really. When he said the word has no meaning, it sounded an awful lot like the casual banality of homophobia, when calling someone gay or a faggot becomes wallpaper. When Escobar said it depends on how you say it, and to whom, you wanted to point out that by wearing the word on his face in a Major League Baseball game, he lost the ability to determine how he said it, or to whom. His inability to explain what he meant to say didn’t help, either.

“I put the sticker on my face as a joke,” he said, but he couldn’t say what the joke was, precisely. It was lost in translation.
There is nuance to parse about the context of the word, the translation, the apparently fractured grammar. Some teammates called it a common word, which isn’t exactly a defence; some, like Carlos Villanueva, told reporters there was still no excuse to use the word. Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen told reporters it was a nothing word, like ‘dude’, but Fidel Castro used to use the word in speeches to brand gays as deviants or agents of imperialism. Escobar is from Cuba, by the way. It’s hard to say whether he should have known.

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NEW YORK — Yunel Escobar said he was stunned by the outrage. His Latin teammates said the same thing. The word was a joke, part of their everyday repartee, nothing to get excited about.

Call someone a “faggot” in English and the vile message is indisputable. When Latin baseball players use “maricon” — which means roughly the same thing in Spanish — in their daily banter, no one thinks twice, several players said.

“It’s a regular word for us that we use all the time,” Omar Vizquel said.

They will likely use it more discreetly in the Toronto Blue Jays clubhouse from now on. Escobar was suspended for three games without pay and apologized publicly for writing “TU ERE MARICON” — generally translated as “You’re a faggot” — on his eye-black tape and wearing it during Saturday’s game at the Rogers Centre.

“It was not something I intended to be offensive,” Escobar said via a translator. “It was just something I just put on a sticker on my face as a joke. There was nothing intentional directed at anyone in particular. I don’t have anything against homosexuals. I have friends who are gay.”

Escobar, 29, is a native of Cuba who has played for the Blue Jays since mid-2010, when he arrived in a trade from the Atlanta Braves.

During a 25-minute news conference at Yankee Stadium, he spoke softly and uneasily as he fielded questions from English and Spanish-speaking reporters. At times he also made it clear that was perplexed by the outcry that followed his public display of “maricon” on his eye-black.

His most glaring offence was one of judgment, taking the word out of clubhouse conversation and putting it on public display, although manager John Farrell said no one in the dugout noticed.

Escobar was photographed in close-up by a fan sitting by the Blue Jays’ dugout on Saturday. That photo, posted on Twitter on Monday, and a Getty Images photo circulated to various media after the game, took the offending message worldwide and triggered outrage from the gay and straight communities alike.

Escobar’s apology was unreserved. He insisted it meant no offence to anyone, especially the gay community. His use of “maricon” was misinterpreted, he said.

“It didn’t have significance to the way it’s been interpreted right now,” he said. “It’s a word used often within the team. It’s a word without meaning in the way [critics] have used it.”

Vizquel, a native of Venezuela, and Edwin Encarnacion, from the Dominican Republic, supported Escobar and reiterated that “maricon” is commonly used among Latin players.

“I’m really sad about the situation,” said Encarnacion through translator Luis Rivera, one of the team’s coaches. “[Escobar is] a great guy. I knew that he didn’t use that word to offend anybody. He used the word like we always use it.”

Echoed Vizquel: “We say that word very often, and to us, it doesn’t really mean that we are decreasing anybody or talking down to people or anything like that. It’s just a word we use on an everyday basis. I don’t know why people are taking this so hard and so out of place or out of proportion.”

But at the same time Escobar claimed no harm was intended, he said the incident and the ensuing uproar have enlightened him. That process will continue. He will donate his lost pay to two gay-rights organizations, You Can Play and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), and undergo formal sensitivity training.

Escobar will become “an advocate” for tolerance, general manager Alex Anthopoulos said.

“At the end of the day, the Blue Jays become a vehicle, Yunel becomes a vehicle, to get the word out to improve things, to make things better,” Anthopoulos said. “As unfortunate as all this is, some good, hopefully, will come from it.”

Pitcher Ricky Romero, who was born in California to Mexican immigrants, said he understood the reaction that followed publication of the photos.

“Obviously it’s no laughing matter,” Romero said. “It’s something you don’t mess around with as an athlete. I’m sure he’s learned his lesson. I know guys in this clubhouse and that the organization don’t tolerate that at all. All you can do now is educate him.”

Added Casey Janssen:  “We’re going to help Yunel get through this … But I think it’s important to know how much impact those words have on society and how it’s a very serious matter and not one to joke about.

Janssen agreed that in the past, the word “faggot” has often been heard in clubhouses, and not only among Latin players.

“Unfortunately, at times the word can be used loosely,” he said. “But I think with situations that have happened over the years it’s just become a bigger deal. Those words aren’t taken lightly any more.”

Anthopoulos addressed the team Tuesday afternoon after working out Escobar’s penalties in co-operation with commissioner Bud Selig and the players’ association. Pitcher Jason Frasor said the GM’s address was mainly a status report. Many players were unaware of the furor until Anthopoulos told them about it, Frasor said.

The cross-cultural divide is clearly an issue Escobar will confront in his sensitivity training. Other Latins in baseball will undoubtedly take notice of his misstep. Based on what Latin players were saying Tuesday, it appears doubtful that it will have much impact on their private interactions.

“In my house we call that word every 20 seconds,” Miami Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen said Tuesday, as reported by the Associated Press. “I’ve got three kids. For us it’s like, ‘What’s up bro? What’s up dude?’ It’s how you say it and to who you say it.

“But that’s our country. We have to respect this country. Sometimes for us it’s funny, for other people it’s not.”

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