A San Francisco Giants fan has apologized to Adam Joes for hurling a banana at the Baltimore Orioles center fielder during Sunday's game in what Jones perceived to be a racist act.
According to the San Jose Mercury, Alexander Poulides, 42, has apologized for the action and has claimed that he didn't do it as a racist gesture.
Poulides said he grabbed the banana off of a catering cart at the Giants home of AT&T Park and hurled it towards the field out of frustration near the end of the Orioles 10-2 shellacking over the Giants.
The banana incidentally landed in the vicinity of Jones, a black man, who believed it was done out of racism.
Jones angrily tweeted about the event after the game, and publicly chastised people who defended the incident, saying he may quit social media for good as a result of it.
Jones tweeted the following after the game:
I love how some ppl are defending the actions by someone today. Shows how u really are also. All good wit me. I just #StayHungry
— Adam Jones (@SimplyAJ10) August 12, 2013
Good chance this means I get off social media soon — Adam Jones (@SimplyAJ10) August 12, 2013
According to the Mercury News, Poulides didn't realize how his actions were portrayed until he saw it on the news Monday. The Giants fan said he didn't mean to create such a stir and was apologetic for the incident.
"Oh, my god," Poulides said to the newspaper, recounting his realization. "I threw a banana on my way out."
The apologetic Poulides told the newspaper that he didn't mean to agitate Jones and he felt a lot of remorse over what transpired.
"I'm embarrassed and shocked by the outcome," Poulides told the Mercury News. "In hindsight, I wish I didn't do it and I apologize. I'm very sorry."
Jones, who homered and had four RBIs in Sunday's game, hasn't responded publicly to the fan's apology yet. Jones is hitting .304 with 24 homers and 85 RBIs through 117 games this season.
Poulides wasn't the only one doling out apologies on Monday, as the Giants sent out a public apology to Jones as well.
"We were extremely disappointed to learn about the incident involving Adam Jones at AT&T Park yesterday," the Giants said in a statement, according to ESPN. "We would like to extend our sincerest apologies to Adam and the entire Orioles organization for this unfortunate incident"
Jones was very agitated after the event, and took to Twitter to vent his frustrations after the game.
"I want to thank whatever slapd--- threw that banana towards my direction in CF in the last inning. Way to show ur class u jacka--," Jones tweeted Sunday night.
While Poulides is very sorry for what he did, there is reasoning behind his frustration. After winning the World Series last season, San Francisco (52-65) finds itself in dead last in the NL West, 14 games behind the first place Los Angeles Dodgers. Baltimore (65-52), meanwhile, sits in third place in the AL East, 4.5 games behind first place Boston, and 1.5 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays for the second wildcard spot.
Whether or not Jones comments on the fans apology remains to be seen.
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