Baseball Player with Webster Connection Suspended

Mariners' catcher Steve Clevenger

The major league baseball team Seattle Mariners suspended catcher Steve Clevenger today for the rest of the season for tweets he posted to his Twitter account critical of protesters in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Clevenger, who has relatives living in Webster County, posted the following tweets:

Black people beating whites when a thug got shot holding a gun by a black officer haha shit cracks me up! Keep kneeling for the anthem!

BLM (Black Lives Matter) is pathetic again! Obama you are pathetic once again! Everyone should be locked behind bars like animals!

Clevenger has since issued the following apology:

I grew up on the streets of Baltimore, a city I love to this very day," Clevenger said in a statement first released to Fox Sports. "I grew up in a very culturally diverse area of America and I am very proud to come from there. I am also proud that my inner circle of friends has never been defined by race but by the content of their character. Any former teammate or anyone who has met me can attest to this and I pride myself on not being a judgemental person. I just ask that the public not judge me because of an ill worded tweet.

I do believe that supporting our First Amendment rights and supporting local law enforcement are not mutually exclusive. With everything going on in the world I really just want what is best for everyone regardless of who they are. I like many Americans are frustrated by a lot of things in the world and I would like to be a part of the dialogue moving forward to make this a better world for everyone. I once again apologize to anyone who was offended today and I just ask you not judge me off of a social media posting. Thank you and God bless everyone.