As part of an extra credit assignment for my PR Writing course, I successfully pitched a letter to the editor to The Washington Post. The text (slightly edited by the Post from the original submission) is recreated below.
Opinion: Major League Baseball should put its money where its mouth is
May 5, 2017 at 5:43 p.m. EDT
The May 3 Sports article "Fight shouldn't be Jones's alone" asserted that the racial taunts aimed at Baltimore Orioles center fielder Adam Jones require more than hand-wringing. As a longtime sports fan and onetime athlete, I agree but submit that this doesn't take it far enough. Major League Baseball held a conference call with the Red Sox and Orioles to say "enough is enough" but gave no specifics toward discipline. This is weak; a backroom slap on the wrist won't grow a grass-roots movement, particularly in a sport where players wax poetic about "unwritten rules."
If MLB wants to put its money where its mouth is, it can take a page from the Union of European Football Associations’ book, in European soccer, and start handing out bans to entire stadiums on game days. Maybe then fans could use the silence to contemplate the gravity of their words and actions.
Kyle Bagin, Arlington