Sale: Jersey incident about standing up for beliefs
Chicago White Sox left-hander Chris Sale spoke for the first time since being handed his five-day suspension for a clubhouse incident hours before Saturday's game.
Sale was involved in a confrontation with the front office over his distaste for having to wear throwback uniforms for his start that day. After he failed to persuade the front office to change the uniforms on two separate occasions, he went into the clubhouse and reportedly cut them up so they would be unwearable. His actions prompted the team to send the All-Star home and subsequently suspend him.
"When I saw that there was something in the way of that 100 percent winning mentality, I had an issue," Sale told Scott Merkin of MLB.com on Monday. "I tried to bring it up and say, 'Hey listen, these are my thoughts and concerns,' and they got pushed away because of the business deal that was set in place. I'll never understand why we need to do something on the business side on the field that might impede us winning a game.
"(The '76 uniforms) are uncomfortable and unorthodox. I didn't want to go out there and not be at the top of my game in every aspect that I need to be in. Not only that, but I didn't want anything to alter my mechanics. ... There's a lot of different things that went into it. Looking bad had absolutely zero to do with it. Nothing."
Sale issued an apology to White Sox fans and his teammates for missing his start, but acknowledged that he still believes he was in the right as his only motivation for his actions were to put his team in the best position to be successful on the field.
"I have regret, because I play 33 times a year at most in the regular season. So I put a lot of emphasis on when I play and I take a lot of pride in work that I do," Sale told Merkin. "When I can't or don't do that, yeah, I have disappointment in myself for not being there for my guys.
"Do I regret standing up for what I believe in? Absolutely not. Do I regret saying business should not be first before winning? Absolutely not."
The White Sox announced Monday that Sale will return Thursday and start against the Chicago Cubs.