During the All Star Live Blog, someone kept mentioning the "Mexicutioner" in the comments. They never got published because, well, I didn't know where referring to Joakim Soria in that manner would fall on the PC scale.But it turns out that not only is Soria not offended by the nickname, he's wholly embracing it.
Bob Dutton, Royals beat writer for The Star, says the nickname didn't start with him. WHB's Kevin Kietzman, who did launch the T-shirts, also said he can't claim to be the origin of the nickname.Hey, if Soria's fine with it -- and this video where he receives a Mexicutioner shirt straight up indicates that he is -- then so am I.
Both agree that the nickname appeared to start on the excellent baseball website, ranyontheroyals.
(It seems that during a chat in mid-May on potential Royals nicknames, a contributor to the site named Quentin Marsh came up with "The Mexicutioner," at least that's what a link sent this way would suggest.)
While some folks think the nickname may be offensive or racially insensitive, Soria isn't one of them.
"He likes it," Dutton said. "He wears the T-shirt and so do a lot of other Royals."
After all, he is Mexican, so it's not like some sort of politically correct "Hispanic" reference is even particularly accurate. And considering that the t-shirts are free (although a charitable donation is preferred) it's pretty difficult to make a case that Soria shouldn't be embracing the nickname.
H/T Game On
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
A great nickname for Joakim Soria just like Al Hrabrosky "The Mad Hungarian", Mariano Rivera "Batman" and Jeff Reardon "The Terminator."
It seems racist to consider the nickname racist, it's not derogatory at all, it just references his nationality. Since we don't have any problem with other non-derogatory nationality-specific nicknames like the Italian Stallion or The Crushin' Russian, it seems like the only way people could have a problem with the Mexecutioner is because there's something negative about being Mexican.