Hal Steinbrenner on Aroldis Chapman: 'Sooner or later, we forget'

During his tenure as New York Yankees owner, George Steinbrenner was no stranger to controversy. On Thursday, his son Hal proved the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

In an interview with Bob Nightengale of USA Today, Hal Steinbrenner outlined why the team felt comfortable bringing back reliever Aroldis Chapman despite his previous suspension for domestic abuse. Along the way, he managed to drop at least one cringe-worthy quote.

“Quite frankly it was manageable the minute he got here last year,’’ Steinbrenner said at the quarterly owners’ meetings Thursday. “He was great. Look, he admitted he messed up. He paid the penalty. Sooner or later, we forget, right? That’s the way we’re supposed to be in life. He did everything right, and said everything right, when he was with us.’’

If you’re wondering, the quote in question is “Sooner or later, we forget, right?” There’s just no good way to interpret that quote. People shouldn’t simply forget about domestic violence as times goes on. It’s especially insulting to victims of domestic violence. It’s an incredibly dumb thing to say.

Now, had Steinbrenner said “forgive,” perhaps we could look at this in a different way. There is a nuanced discussion to be had about whether athletes who engaged in terrible acts can be forgiven. If they are truly remorseful and are able to stay out of trouble for a lengthy period, perhaps some fans will be able to accept that player going forward. Others will never be able to do that, and that’s fine too. Domestic abuse is a serious issue. Some people will never forgive someone for committing that act.

That didn’t happen here. Steinbrenner chose an awful word in this instance. We shouldn’t just forget that Chapman allegedly choked his girlfriend and fired eight gunshots into their garage. We shouldn’t forget that he served a 30-game suspension for his actions. And we shouldn’t forget that the Yankees used that suspension to trade for him cheaply, only to pay him a record-breaking deal once he hit the free-agent market. That all happened.

The sad thing here is that most fans do tend to conveniently forget those things when Chapman is on the mound slinging 105 mph fastballs for their team. Some fans only care how a player performs on the field, as long as Chapman posts another 1.55 ERA and helps the Yankees win games, some aren’t going to care about his past. It’s a harsh reality, but it’s true. Fans root for laundry, even if the people in those uniforms have engaged in some horrific antics.